


Runeblade: A Chronicle of Shadows

by UsernameWasTaken_Leo



Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, Dark, Demons, End of the World, Fantasy, Gen, It Gets Worse, Magic, Original Character(s), Original Universe, The Author Regrets Nothing, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-29
Updated: 2017-03-18
Packaged: 2018-08-27 15:53:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 61,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8407663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UsernameWasTaken_Leo/pseuds/UsernameWasTaken_Leo
Summary: Year 1301 one year post end-timesA whole year... It seems like a lifetime since then, I remember that fateful day. Only now, after running for what feels like a lifetime have I found the strength to rest and record my thoughts. My name is Save (Saw-Vey) Anatorus (On-a-tour-us) and I am a scribe. There is also a good chance that I am the only one left alive who knows the truth. The truth of what happened a year ago at the turning of the world when those monsters from the ArChaos burst forth from the Spires of U'ngol and brought an age of true darkness upon the world.Whoever has found this journal, let this record be understood. This journal contains within its pages, the full account of the tales of what happened in our world of Silvios. The devastation itself, and the events leading up to it, this has taken me so long to collect, and oh so long to translate and sort until I myself understood. This journal is only a record of the truth, its purpose is not to entertain but to inform you of the events that transpired leading up to the scarring of the world, and the mysterious heroes who set forth to combat the darkness, and in so doing, disappeared into its depths. This is the truth that isRuneblade.





	1. Prelude: The Wandering Wizard

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a story that I wrote in a creative writing class in highschool a few years back in like, 2010 or 2011, one of those years. I stumbled across it the other day and thought to myself. "Ehhhh... lets see if I can make this NOT awful" I mean, this running story is how I passed the class because they all liked it, but looking at it now. Just oh my god, it used SO MANY fantasy cliches and more than its fair share of anime garbage tropes. So I figure if I write even half as well as I think I can critique, I should take another look at this story and do it better this time.
> 
> Seriously, don't hold back on the criticisms I've said some heinous shit about other peoples works trying to help them improve, so I suppose its my turn, I do greatly appreciate feedback, even if its just to yell or laugh at me. I am committed to seeing it through so even if nobody reads this, I'll probably still finish it for my own peace of mind. I never actually got to write the ending to this story in that class, the school-year ended before I could. Then I changed schools before I could go back to that class, and sorta forgot it existed from there.
> 
> Though I only ever got as far as close to the end of this story, I did intend for there to be 3 'books' so-to-speak in this series. IF this story does well, and IF people are interested at the completion of this story. I will do the other two, but I only promised to see this one through to completion at present. So we'll see how this goes.
> 
> I would also like to point out that this is only the third draft for this story, after I finish it here I'm probably going to revise it and then look to get it published if I can. Don't know how successful THAT will be.
> 
> So that's the whole background for this. Without further ado, lets begin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHAPTER 1 IS FINALLY REVISED WHAT?
> 
> Yeah, so to give context for the people who haven't been following this story since the beginning. I alluded several times in earlier chapters that I absolutely despised how these first two chapters turned out, nonsensical plot-points, set ups that don't mean anything, and formatting that makes me want to put a gun to my own head. So I finally went back and changed the first two chapters because I hate them so much, I don't think the story starts to become decent until the third chapter, which is obviously, a huge fucking problem.  
>    
> So I changed it, revised some of the details, removed plot points that didn't go anywhere or served no purpose in the long run. So what you are seeing NOW is not a complete mess.
> 
>  
> 
> Complete being the operative word of course.

_'The Day had started out so peacefully too'_ The young man thought with no small measure of regret, as he lay bleeding what appeared to be his last, looking out over the lake he was discarded by after the highwaymen had finished relieving him of his possessions, then cast him off the hill bordering the main road.

 _'Alright so I **might** have been a tad hungover when those bastards got their hands on me, but it was that little brat's fault not mine so why'd they take it out on **me**.' _ he sighed as another patch of grass turned crimson underneath him "God damn it Lisandra" he muttered under his breath, lamenting the numbing pain in his abdomen.

The sound of footsteps caught the man's attention as he turned away from the lake, vaguely wondering if one of the brigands had returned to finish the job. 

 _'Might as well'_ he thought bitterly  _'it's embarrassing enough they beat me in the first place, at least this way I won't have to hear my friends' ridicule later.'_

His eyes meet not the blade of one of his attackers, not that he honestly thought they would bother. But the eyes of the young girl who got him into this situation in the first place. She strode down the hill towards him at a leisurely pace, an amused grin adorning her face.

She strode past him and stopped in front of the lake, adjusting her skirt as she sat down at his feet "It's a great view" she spoke casually.

"I must admit, it is at that." He replied in a low voice "though I must say, I think I would be enjoying it more if I wasn't bleeding to death, thank you for that by the way"

The girl scoffed at that "and how exactly was _your_  ineptitude  _my_ fault!?"

The dying man observed the small child with a raised eyebrow for a moment before replying "You tell me, I don't seem to recall ordering anything, let alone alcohol. it was supposed to be a simple stop at a tavern by the wayside before we reached our destination, just a quick breather to rest our legs, but somehow,  **somehow** " he managed in a voice stronger than he currently felt "I ended up with a bottle of moonspirit in my hands."

The young girl put a faux pout on her face "You could have simply chosen to _not_ drink, ever think about that?"

The dying man gave the girl an unamused glare "and  _you_ could have chosen to  _not_ antagonize those thugs a mere thirty seconds after tempting me with some of the finest alcohol on this side of the world, ever think about that?" He replied evenly

Lisandra put a hand over her mouth to cover up her laughter "Don't leave yourself so open then, alcoholic." she managed to stammer out in between fits.

The bleeding man let out a groan as a bout of nausea began to overtake him. "Would you just fix this already?" he got out, trying not to vomit as the numbing cold from his pierced abdomen continued to spread.

Lisandra sighed, "as you wish master" She reached inside of her cloak and pulled out a packet of salt, the man groaned, he never enjoyed this part and silently cursed the idiot god that decided _salt_  applied directly to an open wound should be the necessary component to simple healing magic. A true healer could have done it themselves without the need for such a painful procedure, but healing magic was sadly, neither one of them's forte.

The man opened his tunic and groaned as the salt touched his wound which, while growing steadily more numb just a second ago, now felt as though it had caught fire. The girl reached back inside of her cloak and retrieved a small staff, which she used to begin rubbing the salt along the wound as she began to chant

"Velkyo's light, lend me your sight, and restore this one's will to fight!" The salt began to glow with a pale light and vanished into the man's body. The hole, left by the highwayman's blade, and the pain that came with it, vanished a second after.

The no-longer-dying man buttoned his tunic back up and slowly rose to his feet. "Do you  _always_ have to say some stupid rhyme? You could have stopped at 'Velkyos light'"

Lisandra winked at him before replying "no, I didn't  _have_ to, but I know it gets on your nerves so I choose to" The man looked at the girl incredulously for a minute, a small amount of frustration building in his mind as she continued to stare at him good-naturedly

"Soooo, how come all that red didn't turn your tunic purple?" she asked with a glint of humor in her eyes. He grabbed the hem of the girl's hat and pulled it down over her eyes before turning around and walking away without a word, as she called out after him.

* * *

 

Roughly 20 minutes later, the strange duo could be seen walking down the road. Or more accurately, the man walked while the child rode on his shoulders. "So whats the plan master?" The girl asked.

The man considered her for a moment before he replied "Well... I don't mind the loss of my blade too much, buuuut our travel money was in my pack as well as the map so we're gonna have to track those guys down and get my things back"

The girl craned her head slightly "Are you sure that's a good idea? They already beat you once, and that time you were armed."

The man snorted "You seriously have to ask? I was drunk during our last fight, couldn't risk even the simplest spells" he started "if I lost control, I could've accidentally destroyed the establishment and killed everyone inside" he sighed and tilted his head back to look at the 12 year old on his shoulders "this time I'm not drunk and my hangover has passed"

"So your headache is gone then?" she beamed at him.

"I didn't say that" the man said, a smirk growing on his face "after all, you're still here"

Lisandra punched him.

and she punched him.

and she punched him some more.

"Ow, ow, owww!" He cried out in between bouts of laughter

"Next time, I won't heal you!" she cried out a smile steadily growing on her face.

He rocked back on his feet and bent over suddenly, raising his arms up behind him to push the girls feet off him, throwing Lisandra off him to halt her barrage of attacks. She flipped mid air and landed on her feet, spinning to face him, her staff suddenly in his face as he raised his fists and took a defensive stance as they stared intently at each other.

They stayed that way for a moment before they both simultaneously broke, and started laughing.

"By the way" he said after they recovered "You never told me where the hell you got that moonspirit, a backwater tavern like that wouldn't carry something so potent, and even if it did, they wouldn't have served it to a kid"

She considered him for a moment before replying "hmmmmm.... Magic."

"Don't try that with me kid, we both know magic doesn't work that way, you can't summon anything that isn't specifically bound to you, so unless you're saying you spent a week performing a ritual of attunement to a bottle of alcohol, I don't buy it"

Lisandra looked away from him before replying "I... may have stolen it from the cellar of that snooty noble we did that last job for" He stared at her eyes wide for a second

"Don't rob our clients, its bad for business" he sighed.

"What?" she scoffed "He was being rude to you, only I can be rude to you"

They stared at each other, and they shared another laugh.

 _'This kid is going to be the death of me'_ he thought to himself as the laughter died down  _'but I'm still glad to have her here'_

* * *

  _The first sighting of the heroes came fittingly enough, with their leader, The Wandering Wizard they called him. As outlined in 'The Therak Report' he was traveling with a strange little girl, dressed in a fashion almost stereotypical of a cute little witch girl. Apparently she was his apprentice, or slave, something along those lines the reports were never clear. She called him master but when asked he would always say "she's not my apprentice" she always dignified him with that title in lieu of his name but was far too cheery and well treated to be a slave. I asked her once what they were, she would always smile and say "he's my master!" but never gave a clear answer. It's a mystery that sometimes plagues me to this day. But perhaps it is of no consequence. Anyways, the trouble started one day in a tavern in the city of Arwha at a little inn called Zahncrest..._

 _'Zahncrest huh?'_ The Wizard thought as he observed the outside of the building  _'looks like it could've been a nice place not too long ago'_

"I'll wait out here, get your stuff back and lets go eat I'm starving" said Lisandra. The man flashed her an 'Ok' sign with his hand and steeled himself. Then he stepped into the building.

The foul stench of cigar smoke and liquor immediately rushed to greet him  _'this is why I hate gangs'_ he thought solemnly to himself.  _'It's like a contest to see who can be the most repulsive to the senses'_

He ignored the stench and walked over to a table in the back of the establishment, taking an unoccupied seat and trying to get a fix on the locator coin he kept in his backpack in case of a a situation like this. It wouldn't be the first time he's had to recover his own belongings from a would-be thief. Unfortunately his mental scanning of the room attempting to detect traces of his own magic turned up nothing. 

 _'This isn't right'_ he thought  _'we traced the coin here, and I see the bastards who did it over at that table too wrapped up in a card game to notice anything, so why can't I sense my belongings?'_ simple brigands like this couldn't have been able to suppress the power of a locator spell could they?

No of course not, they didn't even know he was a wizard.  _'It must  be the smell of this place, interrupting my focus.'_

The Wizard eye'd his targets, seven men all standing on the far side of the room, surrounding the giant who leads them. Playing cards, _'_ _because hey, lets wash down the taste of murder by gambling away another person's money._ _'_ The wizard thought dryly

 _'Well, attempted murder that is, and these 7 bastards, and the giant who leads them, were about to discover why ambushing a Wizard is a very bad idea if you don't make sure he's dead the first time.'_ The man regarded the total of 8 soon-to-be opponents, sizing them up.

Their appearance in terms of strength was, in all honesty. Not that impressive, indeed if it were not for the giant man with the oversized greatsword that led them. It is doubtful anyone would have been afraid of them, despite how they trussed themselves up to look as intimidating as possible. They simply lacked the build to properly pull it off, and next to the hulking man at their center, the visual effect resembled a bunch of frail children trying to look intimidating on behalf of a demon. It made the Man all the more annoyed that he managed to lose to these guys, 8 on 1 odds aside, he'd faced worse in the past, and even being drunk was no excuse for his failure. It was maddening to him!

He was broken out of his stupor by the voice of a woman "Can I take your order sir?" the waitress asked of him ' _I was so focused on the coin that I didn't notice her, and I still can't find it, what does this mean?'_ The wizard thought worriedly.

"Some water would be fine, thanks" he replied "What's the story with them?" He asked motioning to the brigands who attacked him earlier. The Waitresses eyes darted between him and the gang before she answered

"That's Thaan" the waitress sneered, judging it a safe enough distance to not bother concealing her contempt for the giant. "Asshole comes in here with his 'friends' after they rob some poor bastard and leave him for dead a few miles outside of town and tell tales about how dangerous they are" She sighed and rubbed her temple. "It used to be just the poppycock ramblings of a group of drunken layabouts but this past month or so, they've come back with all kinds of gruesome trophies along with equipment to pay in trade for their tab, didn't happen this time, thank god."

She looked back over at the table again before turning back to the strange man as he motioned for her to continue "They weren't always like this, mostly used to keep people who messed with us out, being real civil servants. Vigilantes if you will, helping us out when the guards are being slow to respond to a drunk and disorderly and the occasional bandit attack, given that Arwha has no walls to defend itself with and we're on the outskirts. But then Thaan showed up, and since then, they've become real bastards."

"I'm sorry sir, but why do you even care?" The waitress asked "Who are you?"

The man smiled kindly at her, though his eyes hardened somewhat "I'm a Wizard, wandering around from place to place, my reasons are my own. As for who I am, My name is Sylvan" He finished.

"Well Mister Sylvan, you may want to steer clear of that lot if you value your life, they've become far more brutal than they once were."

After speaking her piece the waitress left, and the man called Sylvan pondered this new information 

 _'So, they only started acting up when the big guy showed up huh?_ _I wonder...'_ he thought dryly. Still, it did warrant at least giving them a chance. He sighed, stood up, and strode over to their table.  _''I doubt this will work._  he thought.

* * *

To say that the highwaymen were not expecting him, would be putting it mildly. To say that they were surprised that Sylvan was not even injured after they were sure they had gutted him, was an understatement. To say that they were dumbfounded he walked right up to them and sat down at their table greeting them like they were old friends. Yeah you get it.

It was perhaps this dumbfounded loss of thought that allowed The Stranger to sit down and start talking to them, they still couldn't quite summon up the presence of mind to arm themselves.

"You shouldn't take things that don't belong to you" Sylvan began

One of the considerably more drunk ones who hadn't realized their erstwhile victim had returned for vengeance yet spoke up "Can... Can we-*hic*-Can we help you sir?"

The breath carrying the words slurred out of the highwayman's mouth made the wizard want to vomit, but he maintained a neutral expression. After all, he was made of stronger stuff than that right?

"Dagus asked you a question, we expect an answer" came another voice, this one with more presence of mind, but clearly, only 3 of the men other than Thaan recognized who they were talking to. Though the giant in question also had a neutral expression to match the Wizard's own.

The Wizard's reply was polite, but firm "I noticed that he asked me a question but if it's all the same to you, I'd prefer to speak to someone a bit more... Cogent."

"Excuse you!" shouted back the man called 'Dagus' he looked as though he'd been slapped in the face. Sylvan liked that look on stupid people, it was funny even if it usually meant his day was about to get considerably more annoying. _'still, the fact that they're getting annoyed when i'm trying to be polite bodes poorly.'_ he thought. "You better watch your tone or I'll-"

"Quiet down Dagus and let the man talk" Thaan chose that moment to speak up. "I'll admit i'm impressed, it's not often our victims are lucky enough to get a round two, and even fewer are stupid enough to try if they do get such an opportunity. How'd you find us?"

"It's called a Locator Coin, standard purchase from any magic shop in a town worth even half its salt. Unless you're of an arcane profession, then you make them." The man replied "So I'm not gonna say it again, give me back my belongings, and get out of town."  _'Yeah, lets try being a bit more firm since polite isn't working'_ Sylvan mentally patted himself on the back for recognizing his poor first approach so quickly.

Thaan laughed then. "Or what? You come in here, show my friends disrespect, and then demand back what we've rightfully stolen. What was your plan here?" he said rubbing his chin in mock contemplation "If I recall correctly, this did not go your way last time. Besides I've found a buyer for the Jewls and I'm quite attached to that fox-pelt of yours." The bandits began to sneer all around the table laughing menacingly.

"Last chance" The Wizard said matter-of-factly.  _'What am I doing? I'm still grossly outnumbered.'_ The wizard determined that ending this peacefully was now out of the question, Sylvan began instinctively readying himself.

There was a short pause as the moment seemed to become suspended in the air.

And then

There was a crash and an uplifting of dust as the giant man brought his massive sword down on the strangers head.

Then the dust settled with the dying of the commotion.

And this crazy man who had walked into a tavern and challenged a man the town feared, was standing just left of where the blade had fallen, cleaving through the table, and chair he had been sitting in just a second ago.

"Well I see Diplomacy has come to an end" The man remarked "but if it's all the same to you where I die today, can we go outside? There isn't a lot of room in here and I don't want innocent people to get hurt."

Thaan glared at this man with all the hatred he could muster "What's your name?"

The man smirked "Oh now you care?"

"Need to write something on your tomb" he leered.

The Wizard chuckled. "My name is Sylvan. Sylvan Ultdsworn Amari, I'm a Wizard from Taliet"

Thaan regarded the wizard with an amused smirk "You know something, if you keep this up I might actually feel bad about killing someone as interesting as you" he cackled

"Regardless" The Giant continued "You're on little man, I'll end this in five minutes"

"You need more than one?" Sylvan replied evenly

Thaan chuckled and strode towards the door

"Cute, but the words of the deceased are meaningless."

 

 


	2. The Therak Report

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The following is the personal report of guard captain Raan Therak. stationed at Arwha village within the Emirate of Searaiam.  
> though the tale is incomplete, there were pieces missing, I had the rare fortune while I was on the trail of the heroes to get a first hand account of what happened from the man.  
> 177 days until the scarring of the world
> 
> The day started out like any other, I assigned patrol routes for the week and after a short meal, set about my daily duties. Then not two hours into this ritual of mine I start getting reports of a disturbance at a small tavern called Zahncrest, on the edge of our jurisdiction. a few guardsmen had been dispatched to deal with the situation already, but they hadn't reported back in yet. I presumed they were just dragging their feet out of fear of the giant like everyone else. Well I thought to myself: if the others aren't going to do their jobs, I'll cobble together a squad of vets, and personally investigate the nature of this, disturbance.  
> That was the first time I met The Wandering Wizard, and his little charge. Given what happened to the surrounding district because of those two however, I sincerely hope it is the *last* time I meet them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I think the first chapter went well, so having just woke up and wanting to get this out before I forget, I'm gonna go ahead and post this now, like I said this will probably update daily for like a week before I hit a road block that is my own short attention span. But while we're on this kick we're gonna make it work.
> 
> Again if you have questions or find fault in my writing don't hesitate to bitch me out about it. I won't improve if people don't tell me what i'm doing wrong. If you're wondering why I keep ragging on myself it's just that I am hyper critical of my own work because I always think I could be doing SOMETHING better.
> 
> 2/24/2017 Update:  
> HA! First chapter went well, I am SO FUCKING FUNNY! Anyways I am feeling very validated in my update choices right now because having re-read the fight in this chapter, there were several moments where I couldn't tell what the fuck was going on or what I was trying to convey, oh well. After thinking about the lines for several minutes I finally remembered what I was trying to convey and fixed the formatting, as well as changed the description to hopefully be a bit more helpful.  
> Anyways, enough of past me being a dick to future me. For now. I hope. Please god let me finish this story without further incident now.

The street was silent as the man called Sylvan and the giant Thaan stared each other down outside the establishment. All eyes were on the duo as this strange newcomer prepared to take on 8 people all by his lonesome. If anyone had been paying attention, they might have noticed the little girl drawing strange symbols in the dirt in the alleyway behind them. But the tension in the air pretty much assured that all eyes were on the fight that was preparing to break out, one man even being so bold as to walk about the crowd pressed up against the windows and the entryway to the tavern collecting 'bets' on who would emerge victorious.

"If you wish to run, I'll understand" Thaan mocked "However, don't think for a second you'll actually escape, you're only going to die tired."

Sylvan merely shrugged

"Alright then" the giant said with a sneer "Kill him"

They group all charged the Wizard with murder in their eyes, but it was sloppy, uncoordinated. After all, there were 8 of them and their 'challenger' was unarmed, there was no reason to take him seriously in their minds, better to just overwhelm him with numbers from the start so they could get back to their card game.

Sylvan stepped forwards listing to the left in order to dodge the first knife that came at his stomach, grabbing the assailant's outstretched arm with his right, yanking him forward with all his might as he delivered sweeping kick to his legs to knock his attacker off balance. Then, letting go of his arm, he placed his palm on the back of the mans head and pushed down with all of his might, causing the bandit to lose his balance entirely and fall to the ground.

Before he could continue his attack however, he found himself having to leap forwards over his fallen adversary to dodge 3 more incoming attacks from the other combatants at either of his flanks. 

 _'At least their leader is being arrogant enough to only watch'_ Sylvan thought gratefully as he spun around yet another attack, grabbing his attacker's arm, pushing off it, using the momentum gained from the spin to roll off the bandit's back, delivering a kick to the back of the man's knee and an elbow to his head simultaneously on the way out.

Before Sylvan could capitalize on the momentary vulnerability of the man he had forced onto one knee however, Sylvan was forced to dodge backwards out of the path of a short-blade. Just like that, his window of attack closed as the bandit came to his feet, and the Wizard was put almost entirely back on the defensive.

As it turned out, although the bandits  **looked** frail, they appeared to at least have some decent stamina, if he couldn't start thinning their numbers soon, Sylvan realized he might actually be in trouble.

Crouching down at the latest swipe aimed at his neck Sylvan immediately followed up with a flurry of one handed punches to one of the bandits' gut. Seeing another blade coming from out of his peripheral vision, Sylvan sprung to his feet and took a half-step towards it before the person swinging could build up his momentum and brought up his other hand to smack the hand holding the blade, pushing himself off it and spinning around, propelling himself forwards using his enemies' momentum to deliver a punch to the face of a third would-be attacker, as he pushed his first assailant's hand grasping a knife in a new trajectory. Redirecting it's momentum into the side of the man he had just hit.

The bandit cried out and doubled over as his friend's blade bit him  _'one down'_ he thought.

Sylvan dodged backwards out of the way of another thrust but found himself pushed towards it as a boot rushed to meet his back,  _'i'm not dropping them fast enough'_ was his panicked thought as he twisted his foot attempting to turn his body away from the path of another knife, sweeping his arm out to try and catch the man holding it with a blow to the face as he fell towards the ground, the man simply leered at him as he leaned backwards to dodge the strike before delivering a kick of his own to Sylvan's stomach.

Rolling with the attack Sylvan used both his arms and his uninjured foot to force himself back to his feet as his 6 remaining attackers rushed to meet him, as if sensing the weakness of their prey.

Yet another kick was launched towards Sylvan as he tried to steady himself and regain his balance, getting an idea, Sylvan quickly stepped into the attack and listed to the right to catch his attackers foot between his arm and ribcage.

Using his good foot, Sylvan launched himself forward, delivering an uppercut to the man's jaw. The Bandit yelped in pain as he lost his balance and fell over when the Wizard released his foot.

However, things did not go entirely to plan for Sylvan, as the bandits seemed to have figured out his plan of using each of them as a springboard to chain his attacks together, and decided to back off and let the Wizard finish falling with their friend, rather than step forward and risk being used as a tool for the stranger to regain his own balance.

Their plan to let gravity win the fight for them probably would have worked too, against anybody else.  _'good try, but not against me'_ Sylvan thought as he stretched his arm towards the oncoming ground he shouted " **Force!** " there was an audible * _crack_ * in the air as the ground underneath the wizard split apart against the huge gust of wind seeming to come from the Wizard's arm, the bandit he was about to fall on cried out in pain as the ground underneath him split from the force, while he took the full brunt, and he lost consciousness  _'Two down'_ Sylvan thought.

As for the Wizard himself, he was launched 7 feet into the air above his attackers. Flipping mid air to better land on his feet he descended back towards the ground behind them, rather than dead in their center like he was before. Sylvan winced in pain as he felt himself land on his twisted foot, but he raised his arms regardless, taking a defensive fighting stance and readied himself to continue the battle.

* * *

Lisandra observed the fight happening with a small smirk on her face as she continued drawing symbols in the dirt, the preparations were nearly complete. Now she just had to hope that her master didn't screw this up and lose to such worthless trash before he fought their boss. Otherwise this whole ordeal would have been for nothing.

She had to admit, when they came across that group back in the  _Wayward Wanderer_ Tavern, she didn't realize fast enough that the giant was far more powerful than he first let on. But as soon as she felt the reverberations from his attack even from outside  _Zahncrest_ , she began preparing a ritual to weaken this 'Thaan' immensely.

Her master might be powerful, but without his equipment he wouldn't stand a chance against that brute, for all of his confidence. She knew he only just managed to dodge that first swing, if he hadn't started moving a full second in advance, he would be dead right now.

She doubted that her Master even realized that unnatural speed is how he lost to them the first time. Given that he was drunk, he probably chalked up the monster's reflexes to his inebriated mind playing tricks on him.

"Just a little longer master" She muttered to herself "I won't allow scum like that to be the death of you"

She drew another line in the dirt with her stave and continued her work.

* * *

 _'This is bad'_ Sylvan remarked to himself, he had twisted his damn foot and without his focus, even an incredibly basic spell like  _force_ had knocked the wind out of him. His mobility, which was the only thing keeping him in the fight at this point, was lost to him with his injured leg and he was pretty sure one of those kicks had bruised a rib or two.

 _'Well, there is always THAT option'_ he thought solemnly. No, these people were not worth either one of his fallbacks and the damage either one of them might cause could kill a lot of innocent people. Plus if he showed his trump card this early, Thaan would be on him inside of a second and he wasn't sure he could take all of them at once anymore.

Saying a silent prayer to whatever god stayed the giant's hand in this battle, he took stock of his remaining options as the five bandits left advanced on him with an evil glint in their eyes.

 _'Welp'_ he contemplated humorlessly  _'this might kill me a little bit_ _'_  Sylvan took the only option he saw forward, The Wizard took the initiative and charged first, tackling one of the bandits onto the ground, using the momentum to propel himself further, rolling off of the one he tackled and onto his knees to sink his clenched fist into the groin of the bandit he landed in front of. Earning a distinct whimper of pain from the poor bastard he hit.

Not stopping there, he stood up and quickly sank his fists into the bandit's face and stomach, and grabbed the knife from his adversary's slackened grip before spinning on his foot, grimacing in pain a bit as it was his twisted foot he spun on, and slamming his boot into the neck of the man he tackled's with all the force his good foot could muster.

There was a distinct  _snap_ signifying that he had accomplished his objective and that one would be of no further threat  _'four to go'_

Unfortunately for Sylvan, that was where he lost the initiative, as he had tunnel visioned his two targets and seriously strained his already bad foot to gain that small advantage his hopes to be able to get back out were dashed when he himself was grabbed from behind by the man he had just disarmed. 

 _'S_ _hit that didn't take him down'_ was the only thought he could manage to get out before his world became pain.

 _*Crack*_ Sylvan was struck in the back of the head as the guy who had a hold of the Wizard started headbutting him. His world was a daze as the other three assailants ran up to him and began beating him down. One pulled a gladius and made to stab him. Knowing that he couldn't dodge this one, Sylvan did the only thing he could think of.

He grabbed the man holding onto him and pushed his body up against him as close as he could possibly get it. This made headbutting him with any force far more difficult since their heads were now much too close. 

 _'And'_ he thought bitterly as the sword ran him through, he heard a scream of pain from behind him  _'It means I'm not going down alone at least, three left.'_ Sylvan's body felt sluggish and his stomach felt as though it were on fire as blood began pouring out of him.

 _'But hey, at least the adrenaline is numbing the pain for the most part, small victories'_ were his internal thoughts as the grip of the dead man released him. His body felt like hell but he knew if he stopped now he was going to die. So he launched himself forward with a cry and parried the incoming slash by the gladius with the dagger he had pilfered from the now-dead man behind him. He pressed his free hand against the sneering man and summoned up what little strength he had left.

" **Shock Shiv!** " he shouted. His words echoed as a distinct  _*crack~zzzt*_ was heard for a second as electricity coursed through the brigand's body.

Sylvan felt so tired after that, even with the adrenaline warding off most of the effects that his body was really feeling right now, but he forced himself on, dropping the dagger to take the short blade from the paralyzed man's grip, he caught the dagger with his other hand and in a swift motion used it to slit the man's throat and toss it directly into the shoulder of another one of his attackers. 

 _'four down, three to go, just a little bit longer body'_ he pleaded with himself.

Rounding on the others with his newly acquired sword he turned and plunged his blade into the assailant to his left as he was still reaching for his club  _'Two....'_ Not good, his thoughts were starting to slur, if he didn't finish this in the next minute or so he was done for.

He barely managed to withdraw his sword and block the next incoming attack from a thug wielding a handaxe. His movements were becoming far to slow to rely on dodging anymore, Sylvan felt that if he fell down at any point during his fight, he wasn't going to find the strength to get back up again.

He felt the weight of the axe beginning to force his blade down, so he let it fall as he stepped to the left as the axe barely clipped the cloth of his tunic, still Sylvan felt the reverberations from that contest of strength all the way up his arm, he was starting to feel numb.

He delivered a punch to the side of the man with the axe's head but it was a blow with no real force behind it, his strength was all but sapped by the two spells he had to cast without a focus handy in addition to his *second* gaping stab wound in a 24 hour period.

The bandit merely shrugged him off and pushed the Wizard back. He almost fell over he was so tired but he still managed to stop himself from falling as the bandit raised his axe and brought it down. Sylvan, lacking the strength to dodge it braced one of his hands against the flat of his blade as he moved it to intercept, but very nearly withdrew it when the force of the blow caused his sword to bite him. Blood trickled down the cut on his hand  _'not deep'_ he thought, as he summoned whatever reserves he had left to simply hold back the crushing force. He felt as though his hand might break soon.

Something in the back of Sylvan's mind stirred, some faraway sense uttered one word, he was so tired he could barely make it out but it was there  _'behind'_

He turned just in time to see the last bandit he had wounded earlier withdrawing the knife from his shoulder and tossing it straight at Sylvan.

Time seemed to slow for Sylvan in that moment, with reflexes he would later recount as simply impossible given how exhausted he was, he managed to snatch the knife mid air

And drive it through the heart of the bandit he was locked in combat with.

_'One to go'_

Letting go of the knife he used the last of his adrenaline to snatch the axe

And hurled it straight at the final bandit, the axe stuck out of his skull as he fell

_'None to go'_

Gasping for breath, he slowly rose to his feet, stumbling and almost falling over several times as he turned to face his final opponent-

And found him already upon him with his massive greatsword and insane speed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for another bit of info on the original story, see I started writing this chapter when I woke up at 8 AM, given that I'm working off of a pseudo script and merely editing the fuck out of it to make it not garbage, you'd think It wouldn't take so long to write. Well here's the thing:
> 
> See, in the original story, I completely forgot about Thaan's goons. I did not write in a battle with them, and skipped straight to the fight with Thaan himself. It was one thing that was bothering me because I don't see a bunch of dishonorable bandits agreeing to their boss having an honorable 1v1 duel with some random fuck, especially after that person revealed that they are a magic user. That is a whole can of 'nope' that most people who rely on their boss to maintain authority would not risk. Given the limitations of magic in this world (Namely, that mages require focus tools such as a wand or staff to cast magic beyond basic spells, and a lot more require material components that Sylvan did not have at this time) and the fact that Sylvan was unarmed having just been robbed by these guys a day previously, I had to come up with the fight against the gang itself from scratch because they're stupid, but they aren't THAT stupid as to really give a wizard the chance to recover his gear. But they didn't know that Lisandra was there. Which is most likely about to bite them in the ass.
> 
> Thaan sat out the fight because he honestly didn't believe that a simple Wizard lacking any spell components or a focus tool could handle 7-1 odds, not out of any sense of Hubris, to him, it made no logical sense whatsoever that Sylvan was able to win that fight.
> 
> Well that's it for this chapter. The next one will come out either tomorrow or Monday. For now, Imma go watch RWBY.
> 
> 2017 Update:  
> I hope to hell that made things a bit more clear on what was actually happening. Btw if you haven't seen the ending of Volume 4 of RWBY at this point then I assume you don't watch the show, in which case go watch the show. Do it. It's good once you get past the first volume, kind of like how this story was much more tolerable once you got past these first two chapters. Hopefully that isn't an issue here anymore though.


	3. The Wizard's Crusade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As detailed in 'The Therak Report' the good captain arrived to see a battle having broken out between the Giant that had earned the title "Demon of Arwha" Thaan, a 20-something man, and if he did not miss his guess, a 12 year old girl.
> 
> He might have laughed at the absurdity of it all if the situation wasn't so dangerous. But according to the report, it is what happened next that nearly cost him his job, the accusations of falsifying his reports were rampant, but having met the Captain, I can personally vouch for his sanity, although that might not be saying much considering I barely believe half of the things I have seen since the day I met that strange company. But back to the report:
> 
> The Giant seemed so certain of himself when he claimed that the man called Sylvan could not possibly be from Taliet. But when this 'Sylvan' character explained in perfect detail what transpired that day, the monster became less and less sure of himself, until he finally snapped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So just a reminder to give your personal critique. But honestly, do whatever you want I don't actually care that much this is still just a giant experiment to me to see if I can write something decent.
> 
> This is also a super long chapter because there was  
> A) A LOT to cover  
> B) I don't think I'll be able to update again until Tuesday so this will have to tide over the like, two people reading it. I have things that I have to take care of irl tomorrow that are going to take all day.
> 
> This took 8 hours to edit from the original because the opener to this story was just that bad. At least in my opinion, and I'm the one who wrote it so If I say its garbage, I win.
> 
> What do I mean when I say that? Well in the original Sylvan was essentially a Sue who won this fight without hardly even trying, which y'know for a creative writing class was fine, but of all the characters I made in this story, the main character was the least interesting. Even in that class, where we were all bad writers using Sue's as the primary focus (Except one guy who went way too far in the other direction and created an anti-sue) everyone found the other characters way more interesting because their fights had actual tension and stakes. Since it wasn't the main character, they weren't sure if they were gonna win their battles.
> 
> So I'm having to edit those terrible points out, and attempt to make the main character flawed and interesting, so he looks less out of place next to the others as they are introduced, and has an actual background, rather than "Chosen one born to be a hero"
> 
> That's the background for this chapter, without further ado, lets go.

"Captain!" one of the guards recruited for this mission called out. He was one of the old guard, a rugged, sturdy looking soldier who had been protecting this town for a decade before Raan was even born. He appeared apprehensive of the situation they had observed since their arrival, and gave a questioning look that Raan understood perfectly. He wore a look that said 'why haven't we gone in yet'

Raan and his company had arrived just in time to see the last of Thaan's little band gaining a new facial accessory hurled at him by a strange man in blue.

Raan had just been about to order his men in to apprehend everybody when he saw Thaan charge the unaware stranger. But it was what happened next the Captain had not been prepared for this day.

* * *

" **Shield of Light** block physical might!" came the cry as Sylvan had been caught completely unprepared by Thaan, Lisandra had appeared in front of him then, where she came from Sylvan had no idea, but he was greatful for her interference as the attack bounced harmlessly off of a pale-gold sphere that enveloped them with a loud * _Clang_ * he breathed out a sigh of relief and began massaging his arm.

"So I don't mean to alarm you or anything" Lisandra started "but I can't heal you and maintain this barrier" Sylvan groaned. If he had his equipment this wouldn't even be an issue right now, but something was suppressing his ability to get an exact fix on the locator coin.

Well, time for the scientific route. "Lis, can you fight him for a few minutes?" he asked

Lisandra smiled "do whatever you need to" there was a crack as a fracture appeared in the shield.

"Save your breath little ones!" Thaan shouted "You'll need it to scream, when I breach this barrier and start tearing off your limbs!"

" **Detonate** and feel my hate!" the girl shouted. There was a flash, followed by an unearthly wail as the barrier exploded, sending a shockwave across the street, knocking Thaan, and the spectators unlucky enough to be outside at this point off of their feet.

Sylvan reached inside of Lisandra's clock and withdrew a packet of salt "I need 2 minutes"

Lisandra laughed as the giant rose back to his feet "Don't worry master, this battle will be over long before then"

* * *

Raan observed the fight going on before him with several questions racing through his mind, who were these people, where did they come from, why are they trying to take on a giant, and most importantly  _'why am I still standing here?'_

"Captain, your orders!" one of the other guards impatiently asked Raan looked to him, and then back to the situation developing in front of him, if he didn't act soon, even more people might die, the choice was clear.

"Move in and apprehend everyone, the focus is the giant, Thaan." He began "The dying man and little girl can wait but we'll take them in too when this is over"

"Sir!" the guard saluted "Already everyone, you heard the captain! Charge!"

 _'I've been waiting for an excuse to take this bastard in, but that speed... This is going to be costly'_ Raan thought solemnly

He drew his Shamshir, time for the city watch to put a stop to this.

* * *

"I call upon the darkness, that lives inside my  mind" Sylvan's chant began

Lisandra stared down Thaan and began to speak "I'm not as weak as he is, you'll find me a much greater challenge!"

Thaan charged at the girl his sword hitting the earth explosively as she disappeared

"Shoulda moved  **Shock Rune**!" she shouted, appearing a few feet away from him. Pointing her stave at the symbol hastily scrawled at the ground below Thaan's feet, electricity suddenly surged forth from the rune and snaked its way through Thaan's body. He winced in pain for a second before he shouted and charged forward again.

Suddenly, a cry rang out "Halt! By order of the city watch, you are all under arrest!" 12 armed guards wearing breastplate wielding either a spear or a scimitar appeared on the scene. Lisandra looked at them bemused, Thaan only got angrier, and Sylvan had his concentration broken and was staring at them with a particularly annoyed expression.

"What, do we need a special permit to kill each other or something?" Thaan sneered at the guard "Take them down." The guard said simply, the soldiers charged.

Lisandra ran back to Sylvan's side as Thaan charged at the guards "Well, that's not how I imagined getting the window to do this but I'll take it." She said as she took the salt packet back "Guess we don't need to be here now, he's strong but I don't think even he can emerge victorious on 12-1 odds."

"Perhaps" Sylvan said, laying down and opening his tunic to have this crude operation done to him, yet again. "But that man has speed and strength that should be beyond his kind, even in this sorry state I should have been able to sense him before he was already on top of me."

"So you did notice" she said, Sylvan winced as the salt touched his stomach wound "Not right away" he admitted "I only figured it out as his blade was coming down on my neck, before you stopped it" he continued "So if you knew how fast he was this whole time, what did you do about it Lis?"

Lisandra smiled "Thought you'd never ask, we need to draw him into that alleyway, I've made all of the preparations, this should slow him down for good."

" **Velkyo's Light** lend me your sight, and restore this one's will to fight!" She chanted the familiar healing spell as Sylvan felt his life-threatening wounds disappear and his pain relieve itself.

They were able to stand and take stock of the situation then, and judge whether or not they were even needed.

* * *

The guard's encircled Thaan, attacking him on all angles, several hits had connected thus far, but nothing fatal.  _'Damn the giant's incredible constitution'_ Raan thought angrily as one of his men were eviscerated in front of him.

Thaan tore though their lines, cutting their armor apart like it was made of paper, his monstrous blade leaving more than a few of them cloven in two, but they were beginning to wear him down. Though he could attack with a speed that was nearly impossible to react to, there were so many of these fools, and most of his speed was being used to dodge their hits, with the combination of the short ranged swords and the spears giving the guards reach. The giant man was certain to fall soon if he couldn't remove at least one of those three advantages.

Numbers were out, he couldn't find an opportunity to launch attacks since this unit was almost always in a position to attack and force him to dodge rather than ready a swing like he would have preferred, and though the guards were wearing breastplate, they were still faster than expected. and often times, able to dodge what few attacks he managed to get in, there were 12 of them, and thus far Thaan had only managed to kill 2, despite how much more powerful than them he was.

 _'The fools know they cannot hope to best me in power and endurance, so they're using their numbers and reach against me, smart'_ he remarked to himself. It was a good plan, but they could not quite account for the Giant's speed. Most people assumed that he was slow because of muscular build, and for a time that was true

 _'but then I saw the heart of darkness, and she granted me this power, I will use this gift to win!'_ Thaan let out a booming war cry, and threw himself back into the fight with renewed vigor.

* * *

The duo observing the fight were admittedly, impressed. Most of the city watch they had come across in towns or villages were a far cry from the super-elite soldiers that defend major metropolises and trade routes, but these guys were taking Thaan on and actually winning, sure they were down 2 guys, but against an opponent like Thaan, it was still a feat, numbers or not.

But when Thaan let out that war cry, the tempo of the battle changed, it picked up speed and the two looked on as the giant suddenly began decimating the soldiers in front of him, a good number of them were hacked apart before the guards managed to pick up on the new Rhythm of the battle, and retaliate. But at that point, they were down to 6 men left, so the damage from the change in tempo was done.

Sylvan looked down at his smaller companion and smiled "What do you think? Think they've earned our help?"

Lisandra just continued to stare at the massacre before her with a neutral expression "I dunno, they did want to arrest us a minute ago." she sighed as another guard fell screaming. "Ok, why not, we came here for him in the first place."

* * *

 _'This bastard is unreal'_ Raan thought as he crossed blades with Thaan. This was not going to plan, he was trying desperately to figure out what had happened. A mere moment ago they had complete control of the encounter, their numbers were far greater, and Thaan could do naught but defend as Raan and his men picked the giant apart bit by bit.

 _'but now?'_ he thought bitterly as he rolled out from under and incoming swing. The giant appeared to have found his second wind, and half of his men were dead before he even realized the rules of the engagement had changed. They went from winning methodically, to a desperate struggle just to hold on and Thaan just kept picking up speed, seemingly effortlessly.

 As the giant clove another one of his men in half he began to chuckle "Captain..." He drawled "I'm running out of people to kill" his piercing red eyes seemed to bore right into Raan's soul. Wait a minute... Thaan had green eyes all the other times he'd seen him.

The remaining four guards formed up around their captain, staring defiantly at the giant. He let out a hoarse laugh as he raised his blade over his head, preparing to end the last of this pathetic rabble so he could return his attention to the lying little wizard claiming to hail from a dead town on a sunken island.

 

There was an explosion that knocked Thaan off of his feet and caused him to land face first on the ground "Hit him!" was a cry the captain heard from somewhere. Not willing to pass up this opportunity as the giant struggled to his feet, but was caught by yet another explosion, he shouted "Kill that bastard!" his men charged

a few spears went into the giant's head but failed to pierce his skull, while Raan and another guard with a sword brought their blades down on his arms

The giant's cry rang out as the blades pierced his arms but failed to cut through his bones, They kept swinging as the blood began to leak out of Thaan in earnest.

Thaan summoned up an impossible amount of strength and leapt to his feet, throwing the 5 men off of him, his arms were too mutilated to carry his sword anymore, but that did not stop him from grabbing one of the guards by his skull as he attempted to come to his feet.

Raan heard the  _pop_ * as one of his few remaining men's skull burst.

* * *

 

Sylvan managed to get back onto his feet, he hated not having his focus. 3 spells total he has now cast today without it and it was enough of a drain on his stamina to bring him to his knees, the color starting to drain from his face. It wasn't even as though the spells he cast were particularly strong, far from it. But he couldn't show his hand just yet, he had to get this bastard to go where he wanted first.

Lisandra meanwhile, was picking up where they had left off, slinging  **Impact** after  **Impact** at Thaan, but it was sadly, having no effect on the giant.  _'It figures'_ Sylvan thought bitterly,  _'it took both of us catching him off guard to knock him off of his feet the first time'_ Lis was trying so hard but she wasn't accomplishing anything, he doubted the Giant could even truly feel pain at this point.

She had even stopped using her ridiculous Rhymes at this point, lost in concentration she was muttering " **Impact** ,  **Impact** , c'mon you bastard look at me."

The explosions were indeed reverberating off of Thaan's back as he continued to battle the guards, breaking another one's neck as they tried to gain control of a situation already well beyond their recovery.

Sylvan put a hand on Lisandra's shoulder, she blinked as her concentration snapped and she turned to look at him curiously. "You're not accomplishing anything just repeating that spell over and over, so time it with mine instead" She noded, and took a deep breath before readying her stave again.

Sylvan followed suit, taking a deep breath. After a moment he let it out, and charged.

 

Sylvan charged up to Thaan, who turned to face him at the sound of footsteps, the giant sneered at the Silver-haired man as he leapt up in the air, fully prepared for whatever trick this one wizard might try to pull.

Unfortunately for Thaan, he was not dealing with one Wizard. He was facing two, two souls who had been working as a team for the past five years, and knew each others tactics, strengths, and weaknesses, inside and out.

So when Sylvan jumped, Lisandra had already cried out " **Impact!** " Sylvan turned towards the explosion aimed directly behind him and stuck his hand out towards it " **Force** **!** "

Reacting immediately to his outstretched hand Lisandra continued their combination " **Iron Fist!** " Sylvan's hand became encased in metal just as the  _force_ spell latched onto the small detonation created by  _impact_ to launched him at Thaan at a velocity that exceeded even the giant's inhuman speed. Sylvan stuck out his new metal hand, aiming it straight at Thaan's heart and allowed momentum to carry his weary body to his mark.

Thaan clasped both of his hands together and raised them up over his head, ready to swat the wizard like a fly when he arrived.

The Wizard and The Giant connected

and went crashing straight through the building behind them.

.

..

...

Everyone watching waited as the dust settled to see who hit who first, who would emerge from the wreckage.

Everyone wanted to know

Who had won

and who was dead.

...

..

.

After what seemed like an eternity something caught under the rubble of the building began to stir.

and the stranger who had come to their town it seemed, solely to pick a fight with the "Demon of Arwha" clambered out from underneath the rubble, and stumbled to his feet, brushing the rubble off of his tunic, he looked incredibly pale.

he collapsed to his knees as Lisandra ran up to greet him with a smile on her face as she helped pick him back up.

"Is it over...?" One of the guardsmen asked as he struggled to his feet

"I... I think... I think so..." Sylvan managed to gasp out in between breaths as Lisandra helped lower him into a sitting position. 4 spells, that was enough to make him pass out for a few seconds. Hopefully he would never have to make it five focus-less spells.

"I'm Captain Raan Therak..." the guardsmen replied having recovered somewhat "And I'm afraid i'm gonna have to have you come back to the station with me for proper debriefing and questioning."

"Sound like... A real... Hassle..." Sylvan choked out, still out of breath "If... If it's all the same to you... I think... I think I'll-"

**BOOM***

 

There was an explosion in the wreckage of the building they had crashed into, and a voice from inside of it reverberated across the street "Face me 'son of Taliet'" The voice of Thaan called out mockingly

 

Sylvan let out a low laugh that sounded more like a whimper as the smile that had slowly been building on his face dropped.

"Eh heh heh......." He whimpered "I hate demons, they never just fucking die."

"You've been impaled twice in the last 24 hours" Lisandra pointed out.

"Shut uuuuupp" He continued to whine as he planted his head in his hands.

 

Captain Raan could not believe what he was hearing, these mages had just punctured Thaans heart, right before dropping a building on his head, in addition to the serious damage his own men had managed to do to the giant's arms preventing him from lifting his sword. Yet not only was he  **not dead** , these strangers were now talking about demons as though it were a commonplace thing. how long had Thaan been a demon? How long was his city harboring a monster? Were there others like him here?

These were the questions going through the captains head, but the most dominant question of the moment was the one he actually spoke as the rubble continued to shift as the monster woke up. Not having the immediate answer, he directed it to the strangers "How do we kill this thing?"

The strange man sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose "You." He started "Do nothing, WE" gesturing to himself and the little girl at his side "get him into his true form so we can kill him."

Raan stared at the two in disbelief "Are you kidding me right now!?" he shouted "This is my city, I won't allow this bastard to hurt anyone else, and YOU can barely stand, let alone fight!"

Sylvan looked up at the captain, his patience wearing thin. "Listen, Captain dumb-as-a-rock, there are only 4 known ways to kill a demon, none of which YOU have, and the time it would take to explain is time I definitely DON'T have right now. Turn around, go home." he finished "Lis, go get ready, me and the big motherfucker over there need to have a chat"

 

Lisandra looked positively gleeful "I knew we'd need my backup!" she raced off as Sylvan rose to his feet.  _'Okay'_ he thought  _'Time to trade words with a demon'_

* * *

 

The demon called Thaan finally rose to its feet, its wounds not having healed since it has yet to shed it's mortal body there was a lot of blood spilling out from where Sylvan had torn out it's human bodies' heart. Its arms an emaciated mess from where multiple blade strikes had torn the muscles apart. There was even blood running down the top of its head from where spears had penetrated it, despite having failed to even dent the skull.

When the people saw this monster still walking, they screamed and fled

 

When they had finally gone and the last of the screaming had died down, The Wizard cleared his throat.

"Okay" Sylvan started out "Let's try this again, hi my name is Sylvan, what's yours?"

"Rograk" The demon replied

"Ah" Sylvan said "So did you eat this man, or have you always had this body?"

Rograk considered him carefully for a minute "Why do you wizards always lie about your place of origin?"

Sylvan appeared taken aback. "I asked you a question." he said "and you will answer me demon, or I will pull you apart piece by piece"

Rograk chuckled at that "Without your focus, you can barely stand, I only need shed this carcass and I can devour you and the girl with but a thought" he sneered "but I suppose I shall humor you, to answer your question I've always had this body, I was given this strength by  _her_."

"So you're another one of the turned" Sylvan said solemnly, shaking his head "That's funny, the last 3 demons we fought had similar responses. Humans that were taken by demons and made into them artificially" He clicked his tongue "I don't suppose you could tell me where this  _her_ is? he said putting a mocking emphasis on the 'her' he was getting quite tired of that vague bullshit answer.

 

"Ah but now it is time for YOU to answer my question, as I have answered yours. Why does your kind always lie about their place of origin?"

Sylvan sighed "Dunno, maybe because the name sounds cool. Now answer the question."

"ah, ah, ah" Rograk interrupted. "I want an honest answer out of you, I know most wizards make that claim for the bragging rights, the particularly bold claim to be from the city of magic because they think they sound impressive. Most claim to have the blood of the people of that city flowing through their veins for the prestige it brings. But I remember well what Taliet truly tastes like. Their mages were the most powerful force on the planet, their blood was rich, like an endless banquet, if one could be conquered but they would slaughter thousands of our kind before they fell, you on the other hand could barely handle 7 normal human beings so why dost thou lie?" He asked in a mock accent

The hairs on the back of Sylvan's neck stood up "remember the taste?" he asked in a low voice.

"I was there, back when I was still human. I was a citizen of Taliet on the Isle of Crescent" Rograk began "I was there the day the  _'Tower of Fables'_ exploded, and demons from the ArChaos flooded the Isle in the millions. I was made to watch as my family was eaten and I was forced to partake in their blood, bathe in it. Before my soul was consumed and my body left in one of the many spawning chambers until the power of the dark acts I was forced into fermented, and I was reborn as a tainted being. Powerful, free, and with true understanding of the world."

"The smell of the burning bodies, the screams of the still-live ones as they were devoured, the terror we all felt as the battlements gave way and the  _'Wall of Divinity'_ crumbled and fell." Sylvan looked up at the demon as he continued "The scorching of the sky as the last Magus died in battle leaving behind a hole in the sky itself though which demons continue to pour through to this day" his anger rising, he continued.

"Do you want me to recount how many friends I lost? How I lost my own family? The love of my life?" Sylvan's violet eyes were practically glowing with rage "Should I regale you with the tale of how I wandered through that dead city for months looking for a sign of a  **single. other. survivor.** Just so that I wouldn't have to feel alone anymore. After watching so many people get abducted and dragged through the portals while the ones deemed 'unfit' were eaten, I wandered, for so long, on the brink of death the whole time but keeping myself alive by feeding on my pure, unadulterated, hatred. Hatred of your kind. An overwhelming desire to see your entire misbegotten race scourged from existence."

"I finally gave up that crusade, because I did it. I killed every. Single. Demon. In the ruins of the once great city, I would have chased you back into your own world too... But then I finally found a survivor, the only other survivor, a little girl." He finished "So yes, I remember the smell of saltwater and blood, iron and acid, and fear so palpable you could practically taste it!"

"Why do the others lie? I don't care! I care not for the opinions of lesser beings who won't see as much torment in their whole lives as I saw in the first day of that devastation alone. I don't care about any of these people, so long as that girl is safe, my family, my lifeline is safe..... That is all I need"

"But she wants to hunt your kind. She wants a taste of the vengeance I was able to obtain, and since I can't talk her out of it. I have decided that I will protect her on her crusade."

 

The demon lunged at Sylvan, he immediately sprung into action, his previous fatigue forgotten. Leaping to the left of the demons charge he grabbed it by the neck and placed his palm directly against Rograk's temple " **Shock Shiv! Full Power!** " he shouted, the venom in his voice apparent as the air was filled with the familiar sound  _'crack~zzzzt'_ as a blade of pure electricity sprung through his skull, splitting his head open as the electricity coursed through his body.

Sylvan didn't stop there, kicking off of the demon's body he flipped backwards to dodge the retaliatory swipe aimed at him as he landed he lunged forward again, the blade of electricity still present on his hand giving off a faint crackling hum as he swung the blade at the monster's leg, then sidestepped yet another blow to wound his other leg. Before bolting away from the demon as it howled in rage and pain.

He was about to return to the offensive when he saw a familiar light shining behind him, Lisandra was signaling him, her preparations complete. He tackled the hobbled demon then, piercing its chest with the blade one last time as he brought it to the floor before rolling off of it and bolting towards the place the light had been shining, the blade vanishing with a  _crack_.

* * *

 

That  **would** have been his plan, if the well meaning captain had not taken this moment to jump into the fight himself. Slashing once again at the downed demon with his Shamshir

"You idiot!" Sylvan shouted, the Captain may have had good intentions but if there was one thing Sylvan had learned over the years it was that the road to hell was paved with the victims of 'good intentions' and this one was ruining their carefully laid plan.

The body of 'Thaan' exploded then, knocking the captain against a wall, dazing him as the demon burst out of its crippled vessel, lunging at the captain.

The Demon took the appearance of a phantom of some kind, almost like a corporeal depiction of a ghost except he wasn't opague, he was a pale shade of purple and had horns hanging out of the top of his head, his eyes were no longer red, but he also appeared to no longer have eyes, just two dark abysses where they should have gone, and he appeared to glide just off of the ground rather than have legs of any kind.

 _'dammit'_ Sylvan thought angrily as he moved to intercept the demon. In truth, he didn't care if the guard lived or not, but this was useless if the demon didn't chase him into their trap. He needed a way to ensure that happened, he sighed internally as he figured out one way to make sure that happened.

* * *

 

Raan tried to run away, but couldn't make his body move, the force of the impact had paralyzed him temporarily. As the demon advanced on him with incredible speed he flinched as he closed his eyes.  _'This is it'_ he thought  _'this is how I die'_

He heard a crunch as the demon bit down on him, and heard the unmistakable spray of blood, but he didn't feel any pain. He should be feeling pain while getting eaten right? That was what the Wizard's story had suggested after all, he slowly opened his eyes.

 

He saw that Wizard standing in front of him then, his hand caught in the demon's maw

 

"You said you remember the taste of Taliet's blood right? Well take it  **Shock Shiv!** " The familiar  _crack~zzzt_ flooded the air as the electricity coursed through Rograk's mouth and through his entire body the demon cried out as he withdrew himself slightly.

The wizard was bleeding rather badly from where the venomous fangs of the monster had gotten him, he turned towards the captain and gave him a dark accusing look for a moment as he turned and fled down the street.

 

"That was Taliet's blood! I would know that taste anywhere, he didn't lie!" The demon spoke to itself distracted seeming to forget the captain was even there.

"More... I must have more of it!" it shouted the last word as it turned and raced down the road, pursuing the Wizard.

 

Raan could not believe his luck, all of his men were dead. 11 soldiers that had all fought in various wars and had been protecting this town for a generation. He, their leader. But also the most inexperienced by proxy was alive, while all of these men, far better than he, lay slain.

An anger filled him at the thought, to hell with what that crazy Wizard said, this was his town, and those were his friends, he was helping to kill that bastard somehow!

 

He spotted the Blade the Demon had used while he was in the form of the giant on the ground, looking to his own, he saw that his Shamshir had been shattered in the explosion. It had proved to be useless against this opponent anyways.

 _'to hell with it!'_ he thought dryly. Regaining control of his body he stood up and walked over to the blade, he hefted the greatsword and stumbled off down the street in pursuit of the demon.

* * *

Sylvan was out of breath as he caught up to Lisandra upon his approach she tilted her head at him slightly "What took you so long?" she inquired

"That... Stupid... Captain... Didn't... Listen" He replied "I had to wear myself out more casting yet again without my focus, tell me you have something!"

"I always have something" she quipped "Unlike some people I know."

"Really not in the mood Lis!" he panted

"Caught you!" A crazed cry came from behind them

 

"Master... Why has he gone feral?" An expectant voice asked

"I..... May have let him eat some of my blood to get him here" Came a meek reply

"Oh you stupid son of a-"

The Demon let out a roar as he charged straight at them

 

 They leapt apart as the demon crashed into the space they had been standing in just a second before. the cobbled road underneath them obliterated instantly.

The demon turned instantly and charged Sylvan again

"Lis!" he shouted

"I know"

"He's still coming!" he shouted as he rolled out of the way of the rampaging monster, it crashed into another building heralding a scream from its occupant who went running in terror

"I know!"

"Then WHERE DO I GO!"

"In front of the big fountain in the main bazaar!"

"No-no-no we can't have such a delicious feast escaping again, it's been so long!" the demon screamed through manic laughter

 

"Master go!" Lisandra cried, stepping in front of him.

Not hesistating, Sylvan fled towards the bazaar

"Not so fast!" The demon yelled moving to cut him off

Luckily, the demon was so blinded by his desire, that his movements because easy to predict, aiming directly behind Sylvan's shoulder she shouted " **Empower, Impact!** "

As predicted, the demon ran right into it and was blasted away from Sylvan as he disappeared around the corner, the demon howled in rage

"You've sealed your fate girl!"

"I've been through worse!" Lisandra retorted as she leveled her stave at the demon


	4. The Staff of Souls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their plan was a good one, but the Captain's continual attempts to help the duo fight this demon, nearly ruined everything. Though he claims that they ultimately would have been unable to save the town without his assistance, I have my doubts. Though most of Arwha blames the two wizards for the mass devastation that befell their town. A small minority hail them as heroes for expelling the demon, and blame the captain for the destruction growing like it did for his continual interference.
> 
> The kernel of truth possibly exists somewhere in between, but I have lingered too long in this place, and the captain appears to be growing impatient with my presence. I must leave.
> 
> But first I must ask the Captain where they headed too next, that I might pick up the trail and retrace their steps before it grows too cold...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is another super long one, I wanted to finish the intro arc that was the Battle of Arwha, in this one chapter, no matter how long it took, so that I could get started with introducing some other characters and start the main over-arching plot. This is going somewhere I promise, I just needed to get introducing the main character and showing the kind of things they regularly deal with over with.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed that, leave feedback if you have anything to say, even if its just 'oh god you suck at this'

Raan stumbled down the street dragging the blade behind him. He had only woken up a few short hours ago and he already felt as though he was going to sleep for 3 days when he got home.

 _'I must... protect this town'_ were his ragged thoughts,  _'must avenge my comrades, kill the demon... Kill the demon, save the town'_

He heard screaming ahead as his mind retreated from their thoughts and slipped back into focus, hefting the blade over his head he charged around the corner

 

And almost ran straight into a panicked citizen

 

Her eyes met him and she froze, they were panicked and wary, as if searching for danger around every corner

 _'given what she's likely seen, that's not too surprising'_ he thought. Clearing his throat Raan spoke

"Did you see it?"

The woman stared at him, too scared to form words, she simply nodded

"Where?"

The woman gestured around the streetcorner "A-alleyway" she spoke, the fear threatening to steal her voice

"Thank you, now get out of here it's not safe." he motioned for her to keep running as he ran in the direction she had indicated

 

Captain Raan Therak was a man of his people, he had dedicated his entire life to protecting them, and had done so successfully for the past 18 years, he would be damned if he failed to do so now, he  **would** find a way to destroy this demon. It didn't matter to him that he had no idea where to begin.  _'If nothing else, Velkyo teaches us that a way WILL present itself eventually'_ so it was with piety in his heart that he turned to search another alleyway

he heard an explosion up ahead,  _'guess my search is over'_

* * *

" **Empower, Impact!** " Lisandra shouted, an explosion reverberated off of the Demon's hide.  _'no good'_ she thought between haggard breaths. The cobbled road meant she couldn't draw any runes in the ground and she could only dodge this monster for so long  _'but I don't have to win, just stall'_

The fight had been going on for several minutes now, and thus far the Demon had total control of the engagement. Lisandra was strong enough that the demon couldn't get by her, but not strong enough to actually inflict any meaningful damage. Even with her focus tool the feedback from all of the castings was starting to wear her out. She might have been able to keep this up all day if she didn't keep having to augment her spells using her own energy just to have any sort of effect on this monster.

The Demon Rograk regarded her with a mocking gaze as he blitzed out from the latest explosion "Are you still trying to win little girl?" he said with a chilling cackle.

She rolled backwards out from under the incoming swipe, but was unable to stop his second attack as he grabbed her by the throat and slammed her into the wall, the wood groaning and cracking a bit as he pinned her in place, she tried to press her stave into him but he wrested it from her grasp with his free hand, tossing it aside as he began to tighten his hold on her throat.

"What will you do now, Without that silly tool of yours?" he drawled as Lisandra fought a fruitless struggle for oxygen

"F-f....ir...ream" she choked out almost soundlessly

The demon tightened his grip "I'm sorry little girl, what was that I didn't quite catch it, you appear to have something in your throat, I would recommend speaking a little louder"

Lisandra let the hand struggling to pry the demon off of her drop, her eyes beginning to glaze over. Rograk always enjoyed this part, the part where the fools realize they were going to die, struggled  in vain against it, and then finally... Submission to their fate, it was a thrill that few others could compare to.

 

Lisandra was not idle, though she felt extremely light-headed and knew she was going to pass out in another minute or so, she would be damned if this is how she went out. She used the hand the Demon so casually ignored to reach inside of her cloak and felt for a handle, finding its purchase, She pulled.

 

The demon yelped as the bolt from her hand crossbow pierced its flesh, dropping the girl in its surprise, she immediately took in a large gasp of air as a man dying of dehydration would take in water, coughing and with one hand over her heart, as if to affirm it was still beating. She looked up as the demon broke off the bolt, the head still resting in his body. In a rage the demon charged her.

But it lost it's chance as she stuck her hand towards it and with a raspy voice cried out " **Firestream!** " A torrent of flame ripped out of her hand, colliding with the demon, it shrieked in pain and fell back yet again as the flames licked at it's body.

The monster fell back, but that effort was all Lisandra had left to give, she passed out as the feedback from the spell drained the last of her reserves.

 

Rograk felt his singed flesh, momentarily caught off-guard that such a small thing could conjure such a powerful spell while focus-less.  _'the brat could be dangerous, best to kill her now'_ he thought.

But when he looked at the girl, she was unconscious having exhausted her body with that final casting. Rograk advanced on the girl slowly, wary of another ploy from the tricky little witch-girl. When he reached her and the girl still did not stir, he almost let out an audible sigh of relief that it really was over.

He picked up the girl, and unhinged his jaws, intending to devour her in a single bite  _'a fitting end for one so daring as to get in the way of my main feast'_ he thought with malice.

 

Two things then happened that Rograk did not expect.

First, a flare went up in the sky

Second, a blade hit him square in the back. Cutting through his flesh, he howled in anguish as he felt himself bleed for the first time in a while.

 

He dropped the girl and turned towards the fool that had dared to cut him, his sockets fell upon that of the captain of the guard, Raan, wielding Rograk's blade, of all things.

"You fool" he hissed at the man "You will pay dearly for this transgression!"

"Foul beast, I will strike you down for what you did to my men!" Raan shouted, bringing the blade to bear on the demon once again.

The demon tapped into its supernatural speed again, the empty eye sockets now showing two faintly glowing red dots, as it had done  when he was 'Thaan' and all the blade seemed to strike was an afterimage of the beast as it now efforlessly evaded the arc of the blade.

Raan shouted in fury as he continued to swing at the demon, but it was to no avail as he only seemed to hit empty air.

Suddenly, the demon grabbed hold of Raan, spinning him around as he hurled him into a building with as much force as he could muster.

The occupants inside the building huddled up in a corner in stunned terror as the captain of the guard came crashing through their wall.

 _'Why can't I hit this son of a bitch!'_ Raan screamed internally as he struggled to his feet, he never made it that far as Rograk pulled him out of the building by his leg and spun him around again, tossing him into another wall on the opposite side of the street. This time, he didn't go  _through_ the wall, granted. But he lay there in far too much pain to really move much anymore as felt his blood seeping out of him.

 

The girl began to stir then, slowly opening her eyes she rolled onto her back to get the pressure from the cracked cobble road off her chest

And saw the descending flare

"Master..." She spoke barely audible as she tried to struggle to her feet but found herself unable to move.

"The son of Taliet?" The demon spoke up, halting his approach towards the downed captain to lock his empty eyes on the flare as it petered out

The memories of the taste of his blood suddenly resurfaced, and a wide smile grew on Rograk's face

"You won't escape me this time!" He roared, and bolted off in the direction of the flare. His previous prey forgotten.

 

It took a moment for Lisandra to regain control of her faculties and struggle to her feet  _'everything is in place now... I just have to get... To the circle'_ were her slurred thoughts as she slowly stumbled over to her fallen stave, retrieving it as the began to turn back towards the Tavern this whole ordeal had started at.

She heard a cough as she began walking away. Turning towards it she saw the captain from earlier, she didn't quite remember his name.

 _'Right I passed out for a few minutes, I should be dead right now... Guess I have him to thank for it'_ Her eyes darted back and forth between the captain and the direction she needed to go.

 _'Damn it all I have no time! But... I guess I do owe him for saving my life'_ She limped over to where the dying man lay, pulling out a salt packet as she went  _'only two left'_ she thought as she stood over him. Sighing, she ripped open the packet and cast the salt over his barely conscious form.

" **Velkyo's Light** " she gasped out as the salt began to glow and sink into the man's flesh. His wounds vanished a moment later and his eyes snapped open, returning to focus almost instantly as he shot up into a sitting position.

"Hey, hey relax! Try not to move around so much." Lisandra attempted to calm the man.

"Where's the demon!?" he exclaimed a mix of fear and loathing in his voice

"He went to fight my Master" she said calmly as she stood back up and turned to walk away "Look I know you want to help and thank you for saving me but please, for your own sake, get out of our way and go home, we have the situation under control"

"You're that girl that was with the Wizard..." He said as if noticing her for the first time

Lisandra nodded and started walking

"I couldn't even hit the bastard, he was so fast." Raan said dejectedly

"Yes and when he walks into our trap I have a plan to deal with his speed, but it wouldn't matter in your case" She said without breaking stride "Physical attacks do almost nothing to demons once they enter their true form"

"I did, the bastard was bleeding from his back where I struck him"

Lisandra stopped

She turned back to face the Captain "What?" she asked

"I cut him" he said with a confused expression hefting the sword in front of him "with this"

"Impossible" Lisandra said simply as she strode back over to the captain to examine the blade

She did a double-take when she saw the blood on it.

"If anything, the sword should have broken when it made contact with his flesh, unless..." She said as if speaking to herself

Her eyes widened

"It's a cold-iron sword" she almost shouted, she looked as though she could have jumped for joy in that moment. Raan cleared his throat to get her attention.

"Right, ummm..." she started, unsure of how to explain in the short amount of time she didn't have "Cold-Iron blades are made of a substance different to standard iron or steel" She cleared her throat as the Captain raised an eyebrow "It's called "Iron" but the blade is actually steel, the iron that it was originally cast from however, was found in a vein that has had intensive exposure to the essence of demons"

"Okay, what does that mean?" He inquired

"Basically it means the sword was forged from iron found in a mine that was, at one point or another, infested by demons, and as such it's ore took on some strange properties that allow them to penetrate a demon's flesh and leave lasting damage they cannot easily regenerate from" She went on to explain.

"Regenerate!?" He exclaimed, great just one more reason why he was useless in this fight.

"To put it in layman's terms, the metal used to make the swords' exposure to demons before it was refined turned it into an anti-demon blade, they're incredibly rare." She finished

Understanding dawned on the Captain's face "So does that mean-"

She put a hand on his mouth, she really did not have time so she would make this as simple as possible

"If you really want to help, I think I know how you can."

* * *

"Yes but you don't understand, there is a demon coming you need to lea-"

"Demon? What nonsense are you talking demons are myth, horror stories to frighten small children into eating right!" the town crier shouted at the man in blue

Sylvan pinched the bridge of his nose, why do these morons never understand

Look, it doesn't matter whether you believe in them or not, you need to tell everyone to evacuate the Bazaar now, because in a few minutes you're gonna have a real 'horror story' on your hands otherwise!"

"is that a threat stranger?" The crier said menacingly

"No, it's a fact!" He shouted as the small crowd he had gathered laughed in disbelief "Look you guys need to-"

"FOUND YOU SON OF TALIET!"

.

..

...

The people screamed and began to run in every direction, Sylvan let out a frustrated sigh "No stay here! Sit down, take a load off, go about your business as normal, after all it isn't real right!" he shouted in exasperation _'I fucking hate stupid people'_

 

Sylvan turned towards the new arrival and smiled "Hi there you look upset about something, don't mind the commotion how can I help you?"

"You can 'help me' by standing there as I devour you!" Rograk roared, charging Sylvan.

Sylvan rolled out of the way of the monsters charge, coming to a knee and spinning around to grab the monster by its head as it changed direction in a flash to catch him

"I think we both know where this is going,  **Shock Shiv!** " he shouted the last part as the electricity coursed through the demon's body with a familiar  _'crack~zzzt'_ Sylvan pushed off of the dazed demon to roll backwards back onto his feet

"How can you continue to cast without your focus!" The demon howled in rage

Sylvan answered him by tossing a small empty vial at where Rograk's feet would be, if he had any legs "Mana potion!" he said with a smile on his face "great for restoring any and all stamina lost by magical feedback!"

"I'm going to enjoy drinking the blood from your heart!" came the Rograk's reply as he launched into another assault

"You wish  **Firestream!** " Sylvan let out a yell as the flame burst forth from his hand and enveloped the demon he howled in pain as the searing heat danced around his body

And then, in the next instant the flames scattered and vanished from existence as the demon gave a howl, and the center of the monster's eye sockets gained two small glowing dots.

"What!?" Sylvan cried out as the demon charged him with that same unnatural speed he exhibited when he was still in the form of a giant, and tackled Sylvan through one of the market stalls, and into the side of a storehouse.

Sylvan struggled against the monster's strength and speed, but with his arms pinned and the hold on his throat preventing him from speaking the words to cast, all he could do was watch as the demon unhinged it's jaw and rushed to bite down on him.

 

However, Rograk was forced to dodge out of the way as a blade came down on where he was just a second ago, Sylvan slumped to the floor and looked up at his would-be rescuer. his eyes met those of Captain Raan Therak. "I missed again" he muttered darkly

"Oh for god sakes, go home!" Sylvan shouted at the man "We have the situation under control!"

Raan raised an eyebrow at him "Okay first off, you're welcome. Second of all, yeah it really looks like you've got this. Thirdly, Lisandra let me in on your little plan, you'd better hope your daughter comes through"

Sylvan clambered to his feet and looked at the captain, confusion evident "Shes not my daughter?" he spoke with a raised eyebrow "And shes never let me down before."

Rograk howled in rage above them "How many times are you going to deny me my feast captain!" he shouted in a vexed tone.

Raan raised the blade towards the demon as he spoke to Sylvan "The girl told me this is a cold-iron blade, supposedly if I can land a hit with this thing it can deal lasting damage to him but that speed is making it impossible"

"Yeah, we're still working on that part" Sylvan drawled, "So cold-iron huh? Wish I'd known that before I started this fight, I woulda taken the blade myself."

"If you had, you'd be demon chow right now" Raan said simply as Rograk lunged back into the fray. The two broke apart and the demon nearly crashed into the building, but his increased speed allowed him to change direction on a dime and he switched direction to charge at Sylvan " **Force!** " the Wizard shouted as a cone of air aimed at the building blasted it down, and blasted Sylvan out of the path of the berserked demon. He simply turned instantly again to follow the Wizard's new trajectory but was forced off again as a blade strike from Raan cut off his path. Making an audible  _clang_ as it ricocheted off of the cobble road.

Raan kept up his attack as the demon dodged strike after strike, The captain's skill with a blade unable to match the enhanced speed of the demon, it smashed into his head with the back of its hand and the captain was sent flying across the bazaar, he felt pain flood his system as he impacted with the ground.

The demon once again charged at Sylvan as he was still attempting to stand up, it grasped him by the shoulders and carried him with it a few feet, unhinging its jaw to devour him whole again. The head of the crossbow bolt still in his body began to glow with a silvery light.

 

Suddenly, the demon howled in pain and came to a stop, dropping the Wizard who careened with the fountain as momentum kept him going.

The entire Bazaar started to faintly glow with this incandescent silver light, and the disembodied voice of Lisandra called out in a mocking tone "Caught you"

"What have you done to me witch!" Rograk howled as his body became wracked with even more pain

"Just a simple little blessing is all" Lisandra gloated "A blessing from Velkyo, the goddess of light and mother of humanity, a small ritual that bolsters ones strength and eases their woes, allowing them to fight on well past their limits" she laughed "But did you know, that this blessing, when used on a demon, creates the opposite effect? Instead of raising their ability to fight, for a demon it lowers it, strikes them down with pain and dulls their senses"

She let out another dry laugh as Rograk was hit with another wave of pain "as an added benefit, I placed runes all around the bazaar that extended the spell to encompass the entire area, so this effect extends to everyone currently in the bazaar, and last time I checked" Lisandra paused for effect "My master and the Captain, aren't demons"

As she spoke the words, Raan stood back up, brushing the rubble from the stall he had collided with off of him, this was amazing to him. He felt no pain from what should have definitely broken a couple ribs at the least.  _'The girl really did it.'_ he thought as newfound strength flooded his limbs, he felt better than he had in ages.

"Oh and don't even think about trying to escape" she said, they heard a  _tap_ as Lisandra poked her staff into the ground again, suddenly a pale gold orb appeared, encompassing the entire Bazaar "You nearly broke through this shield last time, but in your weakened state, you don't have a chance in hell of pulling it off again."

Sylvan stood and flexed his arm, feeling the fatigue of his earlier castings having faded completely.

Raan stood and raised his sword, all sensation of pain having gone.

"Payback time" three voices said in unison.

 

" **Firestream!** " Sylvan shouted, and a wave of fire burst out of his hand. Once again enveloping the demon as it howled in pain

Raan charged the monster "This is for my men!" he shouted as he brought the blade down on it's skull.

Rograk managed to dodge the hit to the skull, but the blade did still clip his arm, he screamed as pain flared through his system in response to the lost chunk of flesh.

 _'this isn't right! I am invincible, she has made me so!_ _'_ "I am not defenseless!" Rograk cried as he felt his body fight to reject the light coursing through him like a poison.

He attacked the captain with ferocity, but being slowed so much by the pain made Raan capable of seeing them, of dodging them, though the monster still possessed great strength and needed to be approached with caution  _'we can actually win this now!_ _'_ were his thoughts while dueling the monster

 

Sylvan looked on as the battle raged, deciding to leave nothing to chance he allowed the captain to distract Rograk so he could finally play his trump card "Hold him back for two minutes captain!" he yelled

"Sure, go ahead and do whatever you are preparing, meanwhile I'll kill this bastard!" Raan called back

 _'That's the spirit captain, but unfortunately, a cold iron weapon can injure a demon, it cannot kill one.'_ Sylvan thought solemnly, time to do what he had been attempting to do an hour ago.

With that, he began to chant

 

_"I call upon the darkness, that lives inside my mind"_

_"I call out to those souls now lost, seeking vengeance for my kind"_

_"A final absolution calling chaos to my side"_

_"Let us walk this bloody path together"_

_"With broken bodies pave the way"_

_"Bring the guilty down to answer"_

_"For the crimes against their slaves"_

_"Hear my cry"_

_......_

_"Staff of Souls"_

 

* * *

There was a deep rumbling sound that seemed to shake the ground, though the barrier left it contained to the immediate area, there was a crackling as electricity surged around the Wizard, the ground groaned beneath his feet before it finally split apart.

And out from the crack in the ground, rose a staff

It looked like a simple gnarled old stick, but there was a Jewel sticking out of it's head that seemed to swirl with many different shapes and colors, always shifting and swirling around, never seeming to take on any one form.

The disturbance had even halted the fight between Raan and Rograk, both turning to stare at the Wizard as he took hold of the staff

"I smell thousands of demons, Son of Taliet, what is that?" Rograk spoke

"Your new prison" Sylvan stated sardonically "The Staff of Souls"

"I'm a little lost here" Raan said

"The Staff of Souls is my focus tool, but it's different to any other focus you'll ever see" Sylvan started "The head of this Staff is an artifact called a soul gem, which houses the souls of the fallen, there is a different soul gem for each species, mine is the Soul Gem of demons"

"When it was combined with my focus tool, it gained the ability to enhance the power of my spells using the souls of every demon I have ever slaughtered, and I have killed thousands, You were drawn far enough away from the tavern that your demonic presence stopped suppressing the power of my locator coin, and I found my gear. This allowed me to summon my focus back to my side"

"You lose" Sylvan finished

The demon howled in terror and rage "I will not become your prisoner!"

"You don't have a choice, captain finish it!" Sylvan called.

The demon screamed as the blade of the captain cut through his arm, it dropped to the floor with a subdued  _'thunk'_  

 

Suddenly, the field dissipated, the silver light extinguished, everyone seemed to still as they tried to figure out what happened.

Raan's body ached as the spell that had been suppressing his pain left him "What happened?" he cried out

"Lisandra, something must have interrupted her concentration" Sylvan said wide-eyed  _'This shouldn't have happened, the plan was perfect, what did we fail to account for?'_

"What does that mean?" Raan asked

Rograk's eyes began glowing red again as he lashed out and impaled the captain, tossing him at the Wizard, Sylvan caught him and watched the captain go limp, his breath incredibly labored but still conscious, still alive.

"It means we're in trouble" Sylvan said simply, as the demon roared and retook the initiative.

* * *

Dagus returned to consciousness, his body felt like shit but he was fairly certain nothing was broken. He sat up and slowly took in his surroundings

 _'Gods, it looks like a tornado tore through this place'_ he thought, taking in the sight of the now-abandoned street  _'Given what that damnable wizard was, I shouldn't be surprised'_

He looked around at the destruction and slowly made to rise to his feet, taking stock of his inventory, his knife had been broken by the miniature gale force hurricane thrown in his face and his clothes were tattered, but at least he was alive.

Then he looked at the ground

And saw the bodies of his friends

_'No... NO! I am not seeing this! They can't be dead... Jorauk, Nishi, Vett... Who did this?'_

Then came the anger

 _'That Wizard of course, he came into this town, started trouble with us, and murdered my friends, how could he have done this, we numbered so many!'_ He looked around and picked up the gladius of one of his friends  _'I will avenge you all, I swear it!'_

He saw a small girl in the alleyway, concentrating on a glowing rune circle.

_'Of course, that little brat who started this way back at The Wayward Wanderer... The one the little wizard damn near died protecting, shes the reason this is happening to us now... I will avenge you guys... And I'll start with her.'_

Dagus picked up the axe that was stuck in his friend's skull, that little witch was going to pay in blood for what happened to his friends.

 

Lisandra was watching the battle from the sphere in front of her while maintaining focus, this was perfect. Her master had just brought out the Staff of Souls and was preparing to finish this fight, soon the demon would be gone, the town would be safe, and they could leave.

The sphere dissipated as a man stepped through it and swung an axe at Lisandra, reacting instinctively, she jumped backwards to avoid the attack

She almost wished she hadn't

In an attempt to follow her the man stepped over the circle, kicking dirt over the runes she had scrawled all over the place and causing the yellow glow in them to fade.

"You idiot!" She screamed at the Bandit "Do you have any idea what you've done?"

The man leered at her "Killed the little witch-girl responsible for my friends deaths!"

 _'Oh great, of all the things to ruin this...'_ she thought bitterly, a piece of scum thinking he was doling out 'justice' for his friends was not something she would have considered one of the worst things to happen to her before this moment.

The bandit screamed and charged at her again, Lisandra had to hope that her Master could find a way to salvage the day as she raised her stave to fend off his attack

* * *

Sylvan was bloody and barely able to stand as the Bazaar around him was burst into flames, after that close call the demon was done taking chances. He pushed his speed to its very limit and was a complete blur as he darted around the Bazaar, Sylvan had fired off several attacks but thus far nothing had connected, if he couldn't find a way to slow the demon down again this entire fight was hopeless.

A vial  _clinked_ off the ground as the captain stood back up on his feet, facing back-to-back with Sylvan as this purple tornado of movement encircled them

"Tell me you had a backup" he cried

"That WAS our backup" Sylvan said

"So this is how we're gonna die then?" He asked somewhat defeated

"I never said that" Sylvan yelled "I just don't know what to do yet is all!"

Rograk snarled and charged into both of them, the duo much too slow to react to his attack, he threw them both against a wall like they were mere ragdolls and began running circles around them again to build his speed back up further

Sylvan struggled to his feet "are you alright?"

"Yeah... Raan gasped out as he leapt to his feet "I don't understand, why isn't he finishing us, I can't even follow his attacks anymore he could have done this from the start"

"Yeah...." Was Sylvan's only response suddenly his eyes widened, getting an idea.

 

"Raan, can you hit him?"

"Are you insane? Hit him? I can't even see him right now!"

"I have one last plan but we only get one shot so I need you to tell me, if I give you an opening CAN. YOU. HIT. HIM?"

Raan looked doubtful for a moment as he considered this tornado flowing around them

"Well!?" Sylvan screamed, time was a factor here

"Yes" The Raan said with certainty as Rograk struck from the tornado again, tossing them through the building

They emerged out the other side, the tornado having lulled for a second before it began to pick up again

 

"The trick to this guy, I've figured it out!" Sylvan said "His power is the ability to build up speed. He isn't naturally this fast the more he runs the faster he gets, that's why there is a 30 second window in between his attacks, he's waiting to reach the optimal speed to hit us so we can't evade it, or even see it coming"

"How does that help us?"

"It means we just have to survive the next rotation of attacks, then we can counterattack!"

"A clever theory" Rograks voice boomed from the tornado "but can you do it?" he drawled, charging at them again.

Sylvan Leapt in front of Raan, taking both attacks to the chest, he felt a painful sensation as his chest was torn open and they were both thrown across the bazaar again, they made contact with the  _Shield of Light_ Lisandra had super-sized earlier  _'leave it to her to make THAT one permanent'_ he thought. That wasn't fair, a barrier was easier to put on a timer than a blessing that required more concentration to maintain.

Raan looked at Sylvans wounds and knew he would not survive another attack "Why did you do that?" he asked "Because right now, you're the only one who can do this!" Sylvan said in a hoarse voice "Now cross your blade with my staff"

Doing as instructed Raan crossed the blade, Sylvan ran the crystal along the length of the sword, his eyes screwed up in concentration as he said in a weak voice " **High Arcana** "

Flames suddenly raced along the sword, consuming it completely, Raan jumped in surprise as Sylvan slowly rose to his feet "That's living fire, made of pure arcane energy... You only get one shot, if you miss then you, me, Lis, this whole town, are all dead." He sighed "You just need to touch him, the fire will do the rest"

Raan held the blade, staring at it in wonder, he had no talent for magic, but even he could feel something ancient and powerful had just graced his presence "wow...." he said in a small voice.

"I'll give you the opening, use your best judgment" Sylvan called out

Then, he charged

"You want the blood of Taliet? See if you can take it!  **Shield of Light!** " He shouted, as a pale-gold sphere appeared around him as his body touched the edge of the maelstrom.

The shield immediately began to fracture as blow after blow ricocheted off of it, when Sylvan felt as though the shield was about to break he shouted " **Detonate!** " 

The Shield burst

The force from it's explosion augmented by the Staff of Souls it knocked everything away, extinguishing the flames, knocking down what few untouched buildings were left inside of Lisandra's barrier, even fragmenting the barrier itself.

Rograk was knocked backwards, but immediately recovered, he charged at the now defenseless Wizard, knowing this would be the deathblow.

Raan had remained on his feet as well, by sticking the blade in the ground and holding on. He saw the demon aiming for the Wizard

He charged

 

By some miracle, he managed to reach Sylvan at the exact same moment as Rograk, bringing his blade to bear from behind the Wizard, swinging down just as the Demon's jaws were beginning to close around Sylvan's throat.

There was a  _crack_ as the sword managed to find it's mark on the demon's skull, not quite piercing his head, but leaving quite the gash in it as the flames leapt off of the blade and traveled to Rograk's body.

As if stirred by the noise, Sylvan's eyes popped open and the moment became suspended in the air as the Staff of Souls was shoved into the monster's mouth before he could close his jaws around him " **Empower, Impact!** " Sylvan said simply, the force of the explosion knocking him into the captain and, more importantly, knocking Rograk away from his neck.

Raan and Sylvan looked up to see the flames dancing around the dazed demon's body, the demon stared at Sylvan as realization dawned on him as to what was about to happen...

"Sylvan... I remember that name now... The worst Wizard to ever sully the name of Taliet academy, this is rich..." he almost sounded like he was sobbing "That you would survive when your betters all perished and yet..." He looked at Sylvan with confusion in his empty eyes "I could have sworn you had crimson hair..."

Then the flames finished vanishing into Rograk's open wounds

.

..

...

He screamed

A violent, blood-curdling scream of pure agony as the arcane fire attacked every cell in his body at once

The screaming stopped, and his body hung there, suspended in mid air for a moment

Then, it exploded

...

..

.

The barrier collapsed from the force of the explosion, and what was left of the Arwha Bazaar was naught more than a crater where not a single cart, wagon, stall, or building still stood.

 

And in the center of that crater, lay two figures

The first, a stranger who came solely to recover that which was stolen from him.

And the second, the captain of the guard who only wanted what was best for his people.

 

Sylvan's eyes slowly opened, something felt wrong, so very, very wrong.

 _'Lisandra!'_ He panicked, his eyes snapping open, whatever had broken her concentration was still around, she was still in danger!

"Sindri!" He shouted to seemingly no-one in particular "Save Lisandra!"

"Who are you talking to?" Raan asked

"An old friend" He replied simply as the last bit of his strength failed him and he lost consciousness.

* * *

 

Lisandra fell face-first into the dirt, she felt more than saw the boot grinding against her head as the bandit named Dagus gave a bitter laugh

"What's wrong little witch girl, out of magic tricks? C'mon turn me into a frog or something!" He laughed and spit on the girl as he raised his axe.

 _'If only I didn't use all of my power on the trap earlier'_ she thought as tears began to well up in her eyes, her master was probably already dead because she didn't plan for something like this, what was the use in going on without him. She began to cry in earnest at the thought of her only friend, dying because of her foolish desire for vengeance.

It seemed like such a petty thing now that she thought about it, trading away her future, throwing her life, and the life of the only other person she cared about to the wind, just for some foolhardy quest to accomplish something that probably couldn't even be done.

"That's right, cry bitch! Beg me for forgiveness for the lives you and your friend stole!" Dagus cackled he swung the axe  _'this is it'_ she thought  _'this is my just reward for being a fool'_

 

The attack never came

.

..

...

Lisandra heard a scream and what sounded like someone catching fire behind her, she looked up

"Sindri!" She shouted in relief at the little fox spirit that had wrapped itself around Dagus, and then sunk its fangs into him.

Dagus was struck dead by the strange blue fire that had enveloped him when the fox sunk its teeth into him, he never even heard it coming.

Lisandra was frantic, if her master's familiar was alive then that must mean...

"Sindri, take me to my master!" she pleaded

It simply craned its neck at her and looked at the girl confused

"Please Sindri, take me to Sylvan!" She tried again

The fox yipped in assent, and enveloped Lisandra.

 

The fox spirit took Lisandra and flew into the air

* * *

Several minutes later, they descended at the ruins of the Arwha Bazaar, no sooner had Sindri dropped Lisandra off had they both flashed over to Sylvan, The fox returned to its usual form of a pelt and wrapped itself around the Wizard, and Lisandra had hugged the unconscious form of her Master and cried tears of pure joy, so glad her mistake had not gotten him killed.

Raan stood up and squeezed the girl's shoulder "He's gonna be fine I'll take him to the medics, what happened to you?"

She sniffled and answered him without looking away from the Wizard "One of the demon's men was still alive, he woke up and tried to avenge his friends."

"I see" Raan said, sighing "That was not your fault, he's been slipping in and out of consciousness for the past couple minutes muttering seemingly random things, in one of his more lucid episodes he wanted me to make sure I told you that"

"That's just like him" the little girl gave a small laugh wiping a tear from her eye

"C'mon help me get him over to medical, then we can go get something to eat, from what I hear you're pretty hungry"

As if sensing it was being talked about, her stomach growled in response, she blushed a little from embarrassment

"Starving, actually"

* * *

Hours later

 

Sylvan woke with a start, what had happened, where was Lisandra! Did the demon die or did he hallucinate that?

All of these questions were running through his mind when he heard laughter from a table a little ways away from him

He heard Lisandra's voice

"And then the idiot has the gall to tell me 'this is a wizards tool, not a spear!'" she said in a mock imitation of Sylvan's voice

More laughter rang out from the table as she regaled the Captain and some of his men with her story listing about one misadventure or another

"tell us again about one of the first times he tried to teach you magic, and you got so mad you set his boots on fire!" one of the guards said in between laughs

"Okay, see that all started when-"

"Ahem" Sylvan cleared his throat

All eyes in the room turned to him

"Master!" Lisandra said happily, she grabbed a plate of food and brought it over to him, most of the guards left the room then, still chuckling to themselves. The room cleared until it was just Raan, Lisandra, and Sylvan.

 

"So, is it actually over this time or are more parts of my town about to blow up?" Raan inquired

"Lemme check, Lis my staff?"

"It's behind you" she replied 

He reached over and picked it up, searching the crystal for the essence of Rograk, it came to the surface the spirit of the demon writhing in agony as it's soul was being processed and absorbed into the power of the crystal.

"It's over this time, his soul has been stolen away by the Staff of Souls, you don't come back from that." he said simply

Raan let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding in "That's good" he said then his eyes turned more solemn as he asked his next question

"What am I supposed to do now?"

Sylvan looked at him and sighed, learning about the existence of demons as a real force in the world was never easy, a lesser man would go insane but Raan had proven himself enough to learn the only truth to dealing with it.

"The way I see it, there are two paths you can take now" Sylvan began Lisandra gasped, she knew what he was about to say.

"The first path, is that you continue to live you life, forgetting everything that happened this day, put it behind you and continue to live an ordinary life, letting everything you have learned slip into the obscure cracks of your memory"

"Okay, but how does one just forget something like that?" He said with a raised eyebrow

"The second path, is a much darker one: Take Vengeance. To dedicate yourself to the path the two of us have been walking for years now, the path of a Hunter of Shadows, you will leave your loved ones behind to better protect them, and you will abandon any semblance of a normal life you once knew, and there is no guarantee that there is a light at the end of that tunnel. In fact, the most likely scenario for you down that road is to die in battle somewhere fighting for people you don't know, for reasons you don't quite understand, aside from making the demons pay for the things they have stolen from you in blood."

"Those are honestly, your only two options. It is the only way the mind can rationalize horrors like that, the alternative is to spend every day looking over your shoulder for the shadows to bite back at you for taking one of their number, until your mind finally snaps from the paranoia, and you either die, or worse seek out their dark powers with the insane rational of protecting yourself from it by either gaining the power to destroy them, or hope that in servitude they spare you."

"How can those be my only options!?" Raan asked incredulously

"I have seen the mind try to rationalize monsters they have killed many times, it only ever ends one of those three ways. Fight, Forget, or Fealty, it happens every time without fail." Sylvan stated matter-of-factly.

"What would I have to do to forget?"

Sylvan closed his eyes

"Simply force yourself not to think about it, in whatever way you can, whatever it takes. Eventually your mind will create rational for why what you saw was false, and no matter how flimsy it is, you make yourself believe it."

"What about fighting?"

"You could come with us, your bladework is sloppy compared to most of the hunters I've known but it has potential, and I would train you" Sylvan said, already guessing where this was going to end "Or you could stake out on your own, and learn all you can about the shadow world to fight them on your own terms. Believe it or not there are many solo hunters, we are not an organization of any kind, just the rare few who understand that someone has to fight them, and the alternative is servitude, be it through willing obedience or blind ignorance."

"Are all demons that strong?" Raan asked, Sylvan had had this exact conversation a million times, he saw all too clearly where this man's life was likely to end up.

"No, this was a turned one, a human who was corrupted so thoroughly by demons, that when they took his soul, his body eventually mutated and returned as a demon/human hybrid. Though it is true this demon was exceptionally strong relative to most turned ones, a true demon would have torn him apart inside of 30 seconds."

"how do you fight creatures that can make THAT look like a mere child?" he asked with a degree of fear.

"Simple, human beings possess a power unlike anything demons have ever faced" Sylvan began, Raan leaned forward, curious as to what this 'power' was.

"Its Wisdom" Sylvan said "Demons come from a world where things are decided entirely by power, the strongest rule, and the weakest cower and flee, but in our world, humans are actually the weakest race, we possess not the fangs of a lion or wolf, or the natural tenacity of a bear, hell we don't have the wings of a bird or the fierceness of a raptor.

"Yet we are the dominant race in our world, because of our ability to adapt, think, and survive. This is a type of war Demons are unaccustomed to, where they tend to destroy to get what they want, we subvert. They have tried to adapt to our weapons, but though they have lived for centuries before our race was ever born, they haven't been playing this game for nearly as long as we have."

"How do we defeat monsters that have us outclassed in power so thoroughly? Simple, we run, we run and we stay alive until we figure out a way to outwit them. Once we've done that, it doesn't matter how powerful our enemy is, once we've out thought them, we've already won."

"Is that how you cleansed your home isle of demons?"

"Yes it is" Sylvan replied "I figured out the one way to ensure they would die, one thing they would be unprepared for"

"What was it?" Raan asked, his voice barely above a whisper

"I sunk the isle of crescent" he said solemnly

"The entire isle? You're the reason it disappeared five years ago?"

Sylvan nodded

"But that demon, Rograk, said that you were the weakest mage in Taliet, the power it would take to sink a continent... It just doesn't seem possible..."

Lisandra snorted "That demon doesn't know what its-" Sylvan raised his hand to stop her

"It is true that once upon a time, I was the weakest mage to ever live in Taliet, I barely handle basic combat spells, let alone the ability to destroy a continent" He started "But I am still from Taliet, a continent that once oozed magic from the very ground we walked on, so it doesn't matter that I was the weakest, compared to me, some of the most accomplished mages our the decade look like paltry street magicians, besides I have been forced to grow since then and I'd like to believe that statement is no longer true."

"Just one last question... Why did you sink the continent?" Raan asked in a subdued voice

"Rule number one of being a hunter..." Sylvan said repeating the words of his best friend in the world Yraul

 

_"If you can't win, then you make damn sure nobody else gets to either."_

 

"This has given me a lot to think about" Raan said in a small voice "I'll have an answer for you in the morning, you can stay here for the night, but tomorrow you're going to have to leave, there are too many people in town who are out for your blood right now thinking this whole thing was your fault, personally I don't blame them but I do shudder to think what would have happened had that demon gone unchecked in our town for any longer" He said

"Want me to answer that too?" Sylvan asked with a pained expression

"I think I'd prefer it if you didn't" He replied, Raan took a bow and left the room.

* * *

"I like him" Lisandra said with a sad smile on her face

"I'll admit, I do too, but you've heard that test before in the past, you know where his path is going to lead him one day" Sylvan responded solemnly

"I'm not gonna feel bad for hoping that you're wrong" She said with a frown

"Hope is a wonderful thing to have, but that's what makes it a double-edged sword" He said glumly "Sometimes it fails you, and it still makes a completely expected result even more surprising"

"There are exceptions to every rule..." She said with a sad smile

Sylvan took a minute as he threw the sheets back over him, Lisandra took her place on the bed next to him

"Not this one" he said as he closed his eyes, and let sleep overtake him.

* * *

The next day the guard escorted them to the outskirts of the city, their travel supplies refreshed and their wounds bandaged, Sylvan's supplies fetched and returned to him in full, he felt the familiar weight of his travel pack and blade as he attached the pack to his back and clipped the sword to his belt. Raan met them at the outskirts.

"I cannot go with you i'm afraid, I've given it a lot of thought but my place is here and my only course is to defend the people of my town" Raan said sadly "I'm sorry"

"Don't worry about it, t'was your choice to make my friend" Sylvan said, Lisandra hid her eyes behind her hat, she didn't trust herself to look at the man.

"Take this" Raan said presenting the Giant's Great-sword to Sylvan, his eyes widened at the gesture "You sure you won't need it?" he asked

Raan waved him off "My demon fighting days are done, that was a one time thing to help the people of my town, but you crazy fools have made this your livelihood, the least I can do in thanks is make you have a weapon that can actually help, Lisandra informed me of how rare those things are, you're not liable to come across another like it for a very long time so you should take it."

Sylvan accepted the sword "I will use it well, thank you Captain Raan Therak" Sylvan said, giving the man a respectful salute, which he returned "Now go and save the world you lunatics!" Raan said with a chuckle.

"If you ever have a problem with demons again, we'll be there to help" Sylvan promised. Raan smiled at him "Well then, I like you and all, but I sincerely hope we never meet again in that case."

Sylvan let out a laugh and raised his arms above his head in a shrug "until next time, my friend"

"By the way, that sword you have there, we tried to pull it to examine it, but nobody could draw it, why?" Raan asked

Sylvan glanced idly at the blade on his belt "Because that blade submits only to one wielder" He answered

"Who would that be, you?"

Sylvan laughed "I wish, we still haven't found who this blade was destined for, it is my lot in life to carry it until I find the one it has chosen"

"I see, safe travels Sylvan Ultdsworn Amari" Raan said.

 

They were about to leave when Lisandra turned and cried out "Please forget what you saw captain!"

Raan gave her a smile "My lady" bowing to her "With respect, I don't think I'll ever forget that" He turned and walked away, motioning for the guards to follow him.

Lisandra began to sob a little until Sylvan put a hand on her shoulder "It was worth a try, kid" he said solemnly

She hugged him then and he pulled her up onto his back, her ability to sit much easier now that the backpack she had always used as a chair on long journeys was returned to it's rightful place.

"Why didn't you tell him what's going to happen to him if he doesn't forget?"

"I did, I just didn't go into detail" The Wandering Wizard responded

"Yes but why, he was a good man..." Lisandra spoke

"Because people have to be free to make their own choices, even if you know they're going to make the wrong one."

 

And with that, the Duo left Arwha. It would be a long time before they returned, but when they eventually did, it would be under far worse circumstances than before, and they both knew it. However, neither one of them could have guessed just how dire those circumstances would be.


	5. A Nightmare of Reflections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 170 days until the scarring of the world
> 
> I must admit, my final conversation with the captain of the guard was certainly enlightening. The man seemed to be growing more paranoid before I left the city, and an eerie shadow had fallen over the town of Arwha. But I suppose I have yet to explain my stake in all of this, I was tasked by the Grandmaster of the tower, Yraul to search for the Wandering Wizard and report on his activities. To this day I have no idea why a wizard of the First File requested this of me. Perhaps, with the disappearance of the order, I should explain how their order worked.
> 
> You see, Wizards operate in a rank and file system of power. ranging from Seventh File (Apprentices) rank 3-1 all the way to First File (Grandmaster) most, if not all, Wizards are part of this order as a way to garner respect, and make people less fearful of them, The Wandering Wizard is one of the few mages who did not join the order, probably due to most First File Wizards being killed off by the rest of the order before they can become a threat to the world, with an exception given only for the two masters of the order Yraul, and Elder Nerrickson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so it's been roughly ten or twelve days since my last update, that requires a bit of explaining.
> 
> 1) My life got REALLY busy the past week really suddenly. At first I had skipped a day because I'm an Ohioan and I had to watch the Indians at the world series. It was an amazing game and I salute the cubs even though I am annoyed the tribe lost. Baseball is the only sport I actually give a shit about, so I can promise that is the last time for a while that I will be distracted by sports. But after that I had things I had to do every day, I've only had three free days in the past... However many days it has been, and the previous two were spent on point two.
> 
> 2) I had to figure out a way to space the first real story arc out a little better. See while it wasn't quite as bad as the beginning of the story, in the original tale I tried to set up so many different plot points at one time, and it all felt just a little too fast paced, so I wasn't able to begin the editing the first two days I had totally free because I had to first figure out how to space out these different plot points so as to not overload the reader with information and cause the story to get bogged down with exposition on top of exposition. Hopefully I did alright.
> 
> I am probably going to change the upload schedule now, I am going to shoot for twice a week, but I can only guarantee from this point forward that It will be once a week. It very well might end up being more, if I can make the edits quickly, but I only promise once a week. Though it will remain a guaranteed one regardless of if I only upload one chapter in a week, or five.
> 
> So with that out of the way, lets dive right in.

Sylvan lay under the shade of a great oak tree perched atop a hill, just looking out into the sky. A torrent of conflicting emotions running through his mind. Sadness, shame, guilt... But also happiness, peace, and an optimism he had not felt in what seemed like ages. He idly extended one of his arms towards the sky, as if he meant to touch the clouds.

" **Torchlight** " he muttered. As if in response to his statement, his body felt much more weary than it had just a moment ago, and yet still, no ball of light had been called to his hands as it was supposed to. He sighed _'maybe I **should** leave' _ he thought with a chuckle.

" **Torchlight** " another, more feminine voice called out, the voice came barely above a whisper. a small orb of light flitted into existence above Sylvan's head, just in front of his eyes. Sylvan gave a start of surprise and his eyes slammed shut in response to the appearance of this new unexpected source of light appearing inches from his eyes. He idly heard the sound of feminine laughter coming from somewhere behind him, and he rubbed his eyes vigorously, attempting to rid himself of the sudden blindness the voice had struck him with.

"Gimme a break Lyra..." The man groaned pinching the bridge of his nose as he attempted to blink the excess light out his eyes. He heard the laughter again as the orb dissipated from existence, and a young woman emerged from behind the great oak.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help it" she said with a low laugh "You disappeared so suddenly after those guys ganged up on you but somehow I knew I'd find you here, in our spot."

"If I recall correctly..." Sylvan started with a smile "This is  **my** spot,  **you** just keep coming back here." he stated, turning to face the girl with a smile. "Besides they weren't anything I couldn't handle" He turned away, letting the smile drop from his face.

Lyra gave a disapproving frown "Syl... you can't keep letting people do as they please to you, it's not right"

"I'm not so sure about that, you heard the same teachings I did. It is the onus of the powerful to protect the weak, but the trade-off is that the weak must learn to be tolerant of the demands of the strong. If they desire to mock me, I suppose I have no choice, as one of the weak. To accept the protection of the strong, I can take the harsh words."

Lyra raised an eyebrow in response "You're listening to the words of Master Gaius now?" she stated disbelivingly. Sylvan merely shrugged and muttered something along the lines of "not much choice..."

Lyra sat down behind him, and Sylvan allowed himself to fall backwards, his head coming to rest on her lap, he closed his eyes and felt a gentle hand running through his hair. Sylvan let out a sigh of contentment as he enjoyed the sensation of the wind on his face and Lyra's gentle caress.

"Syl?" he heard her uncertain voice.

"Hmm?" came his muttered response.

"You have friends now... Why don't you allow us to help you?"

"I dunno... Guess because it isn't your guys' problem" He responded halfheartedly.

"Syl it's not a weakness to ask for help" she stated, this time more sternly. Sylvan grunted, he really did not want to deal with these things right now, he came out here to forget his troubles for a bit, not have them thrown back in his face. Rolling off of Lyra's lap, Sylvan came to his feet and stepped away from the tree, looking out towards the horizon.

"I don't believe it is a weakness, I just believe this is a problem none of you can help me with." He said sadly

"And Lisandra can?" came a curt reply

Sylvan turned around then and looked at the woman with a raised eyebrow

"Who?"

Lyra rose to her feet and brushed past Sylvan's shoulder as she passed him, his eyes never left her form as she stopped a few feet in front of him

"Honestly, Sylvan... What do you plan to do here?" She said in a sad voice "You swore off the path of vengeance long ago" She turned slowly towards him then

Sylvan nearly puked at what he saw

Her eyes were missing, blood running down the empty sockets in place of tears, her face a sunken malnourished hollow shell of the proud features she once boasted, he dress a bloody dilapidated mess before him, the scene slowly shifted before him, and suddenly he was back in Taliet, the town was burning, screams could be heard from every direction, and unspeakable horrors performing the most depraved acts of cruelty could be seen all around him. Sylvan could not believe what he was witnessing right now.

"Remember dearest? You did it, you killed the monsters that killed us. So why do you continue on that path? why not give up and join us in the afterlife? We're all waiting for you."

Sylvan's head felt as though it was ready to burst out of it's skull, he placed his hands on either side of his head trying to block out the noise, the memories, the awful memories. That was right, she died... Everybody died, there was nobody left. What was his reason for going on?

 

Then, one sound could be heard piercing through the screams, it was much lower than the screams of his kinsmen being slain all around him, but that sound seemed to muffle out the rest of his world, what was it? He tried to place it but he just could not remember it, the pain in his head was blocking out all coherent thought. Lyra extended her hand out towards Sylvan, attempting to touch him, he knew that if he let her, he would die, and finally be at peace. Oh gods how he wanted that. But something inside of him screamed and raged against his desire, compelling him to fight. He could not place it though.

He heard that sound again, it drowned out the rest of the world around him, so strongly that it even drowned out whatever words he saw forming on Lyra's lips, he could not make them out. He sidestepped her touch and wandered aimlessly towards the sound, not really certain as to why he was doing so, it sounded like someone was... Crying? That's right, somebody was sad. Though it should be expected in the blasted hellscape he was in now, this sobbing just sounded innately... Wrong to him.

Sylvan wasn't sure for how long he wandered, it could have been hours, seconds, days, months. Time didn't seem to matter to him, all that mattered was the sobbing never ceased, and he felt as though if he could make the crying stop, he could fix the horrible things he was seeing.

Finally, Sylvan stumbled across the source of the sobbing, and came face-to-face with a little girl, she looked up at him with tear-stained eyes. It was obvious she had been crying for a long time, crying over the body of an older woman  _'must be her mother'_ Sylvan thought dumbly as more conflicting emotions welled up in his heart.

Sadness, at seeing one so young being allowed to experience so much pain.

Yet relief, at seeing another living person in the hellhole that had become his home. He just wish he knew her name.

"She's going to die you know?" The voice of Lyra called out from behind him Sylvan turned towards Lyra as she continued "She's going to die because of this foolish crusade  **you** condoned. She's going to die just like we did, torn apart by the unforgiving dark."

Sylvan did not respond as he turned to look back at the crying child, who seemed oblivious to Lyra's presence as she spoke in a cracked voice "Are you another one of the monsters?" She asked in a resigned voice. No fear was in this child's voice, just resignation to her fate, either this man would kill her, or he would not. Sylvan felt his heart breaking to see a child so accepting of her own death, though he knew not why.  _'What is her name?'_

Suddenly, he heard a screech from the air, and a horde of Demons descended upon the girl, Sylvan panicked and sprung into action, racing to the girl's side. Narrowly beating the winged abominations to her as they surrounded them, he felt his flesh being torn to pieces as they ripped into him, and the girl still did not move, nor did he stray from her side, wrapping the girl thoroughly in his cloak to protect her from having the see the end of them both. He cried at his helplessness, unable to save his friends, his home, hell he couldn't even save a single girl.

Then his grief turned to rage, he opened his eyes as the claws dug deeper into him, blood poured out from all sides of his body yet he felt no pain. He screamed as he felt the rage of a thousand suns overtake him. With his scream came a flash of white, a blinding light so powerful that it stripped the crimson color from his hair, leaving naught but silver in its place.

Then all he saw became lost in a blinding white light.

* * *

Sylvan awoke with a start, coming to his knees before he'd even realized he'd moved. He was drenched in sweat and gasping for air as the nightmare played out again in his mind. He put his head in his hand as he wiped some of the sweat off his brow. After a few moments had passed, he calmed down listening for any sound to distract him from his thoughts.

He heard the sobbing again, and was about to chide himself for getting lost in his hallucination again, until he heard it coming once more from a sleeping bag perched slightly away from him. He sighed in relief that he wasn't going insane as he stood up and stalked over to it

Lisandra was sobbing in her sleep he observed the young child in silence for a moment, contemplating what to do before he removed Sindri from his person and draped him over her sleeping form, he sat down next to her and reignited the fire before silently stroking her hair.

Lisandra seemed to calm at the gesture but did not stir from her slumber, and so he continued to do that. Sylvan lost track of time as he continued to comfort the girl, long into the hours of the night, stopping only when the first rays of the sun started to rise over the canopy of the forest they had taken shelter in. He walked off towards the nearby lake to bathe, and when he returned, she was still asleep. But had a smile on her face.

 _'You're wrong Lyra'_ he thought to himself  _'I won't allow her to die, I'll see this planet burned long before I allow her to come to harm'_

 

At the smell of breakfast wafting to her nose, Lisandra finally stirred

"Good morning Lis" Sylvan said happily as he put the finishing touches on the stew. "I Know it's not your cooking but I got bored" he said.

"g'mornin master" she said sleepily "you're up early"

"Just anxious to get on the road again" he replied

Lisandra nodded and made a move to rise, the fox pelt, Sindri slipped off her blanket as she did so, she stared at it in confusion for several moments before she looking at Sylvan again, he looked at her with a smile and asked "Something wrong?"

She had a nightmare, she knew that much. But partway through it the demons she had seen tear her family apart had vanished in a wonderful flash of white, she went from scared and accepting of her own death, to feeling peaceful and safe. Though she never figured out why, until that moment  _'you dummy'_ she thought about her master. She leaned down to pick Sindri up placing the fox on her master's pack next to her bedroll before looking at him

She shook her head and smiled "Nothing at all."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the last two chapters were very long, but that's not the standard length of these chapters, they are going to start out short at the start of each arc, and get progressively longer the closer we get to the arc finale. I just wanted to make sure that was clear. I'm saying this now to explain why the first couple chapters are only a few thousand words, despite chapter 4 being just shy of 10,000 words by itself. They will get longer the further into the story arc we get.


	6. The Dueling City: Varristen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 168 days until the scarring of the world
> 
> The Wandering Wizard made his way towards Varristen, a city renowned for its tournaments of martial skill, and playing host to some of the best sword-masters of our generation.  
> The duo appeared to be searching for something, or perhaps someone. They never participated in any fights, they simply watched. They never joined in the betting pools and most who overheard them reported that the two had naught but contempt for most of the fighters.
> 
> Though they appear to have done their best to avoid trouble, there did appear to be a single incident they did involve themselves with.

"So, is there a reason we're heading in this direction?" Lisandra inquired. It was getting much hotter outside the closer they got to the dessert and she was still groggy from having to wake at the early hours of the morning. Not that she didn't trust her master or anything, but she wasn't picking up even the faintest hints of a demon in this area, and she had spent much of her free time looking, albeit for lack of anything better to do.

"Nine days we've been on the road and finally she asks" Sylvan mocked, shaking his head. "This fight, while something the two of us are more than capable of handling on our own, we cannot finish by our own hands."

Lisandra looked at her feet and spoke in a meek voice "Maybe... It just can't be done at all..."

Sylvan stopped

He turned to face Lisandra, an eyebrow raised quizzically at her "Come again?"

The girl absolutely refused to meet his eye as she answered "Destroying the demons forever... Maybe it can't be done." she scrapped her boot along the ground and seemed embarrassed to even admit it as a possibility that she might be wrong.

"Lis, you're the one who was so intent on finding a way to wipe them out for good."

She looked away "Yeah well... Then... I..."

"You?" Sylvan asked in a drawn out tone.

"I almost got you killed, against something so weak" She muttered finally. "I'd never forgive myself if you had died, so maybe... Maybe we should just... Stop"

Sylvan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. While inside he was truly touched that Lisandra had come to value his life over her own revenge, they both knew what stopping would mean. No, they had taken up this quest already, and at her behest no less. Now their only option was to keep running, keep fighting, never stopping until they either died, or found a way to destroy the entire demonic race. Those two options were the only way they could be freed now, such was the curse of a Hunter of Shadows.

"Lis, you know already, the reasons that won't work" he started slowly. Lisandra looked up at him then, red-faced and with an expression that was equal parts sad and angry.

"Well then what's YOUR plan!?" She yelled at him "I don't see you contributing anything useful around here!"

Sylvan looked taken aback at her tone, had the events back at Arwha really affected the girl that much?

He grabbed hold of the hilt of Silveron, unclipping the longsword from his belt, he held the sheath out to her "We're heading to Varristen, the City of Blades, the Dueling City, Mercenaries' Haven, call it whatever you want." He started

"We need to find a sword master capable of drawing this blade, I feel as though that is the first step towards finding a way to do what everyone believes is impossible, and destroying the demons" He finished.

 Lisandra looked at him uncertainly, a heavy look of contemplation on her face "I'm not stupid, I know we can't just stop." She said finally "but is dragging other people into our fight really the way to go?"

"Of course it isn't" Sylvan stated "Just like with the captain, they will have the option I will not force them into anything, but right now this weapon is useless without it's master. We need it in play, one way or another." He sighed and turned to continue walking down the road. "But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it"

Lisandra still looked skeptical, but she continued to follow the Wizard anyways "Not like we have a better plan..." she muttered

* * *

Sylvan made his way towards Varristen at a deliberate pace, he had hoped to get some answers to the questions that had been buzzing around in his head. He had told the girl walking sullenly behind him part of his plan, but he kept the rest to himself. Uncertain of what he would find in the Dueling City but regardless of whether or not they would find the wielder of Silveron he hoped to find the answer to at least one of his questions.

Namely:  _'why does this sword refuse to bend to my will?'_

It was true that he knew he was not the person Silveron had chosen, he had discovered the blade almost a year ago. With most people, a Runeblade was impossible to even touch, let alone draw. But he had managed to pick the sword up no problem, though he knew not what he had been holding at the time. He could pick up the blade, but he still couldn't draw the sword, he had never heard of a case like this one, and as such, he desired to know why. They had actually been on a course to Varristen to begin with when the altercation at  _The Wayward Wanderer_ had gotten them side-tracked. It wasn't a total loss, as they had managed to find and destroy a demon, or at least the pawn of one.  _'But if Rograk was merely a pawn, who's the master?'_ he thought warily.

He wished he could speak to Yraul about this, perhaps he would know the answer, he usually did when Sylvan's own mind failed to find the answer. But asking Yraul was quite impossible in their present scenario. A trip back across the mountains to the capital city of Vilverinn would take far too long, and there was no guarantee that Yraul would even be there when they arrived. The second grandmaster of the Wizard's file was oft seen traveling around the world as much as they were. Whatever his quest was, Sylvan found he had no desire to interfere, or burden his best friend with his own troubles on top of the ones Yraul seemed to already have.

As if sensing his troubled mind, he heard a faint 'yip' coming from inside his head. he looked to his shoulder to find that Sindri had shifted positions to rest it's head on his shoulder, the pelt idly opened one of it's eyes to gaze lazily at him. Sylvan reached up and began stroking the creature's head  _'it's alright friend'_ he sent back to the small creature  _'I'm probably worrying myself over nothing'_

Sindri seemed to coo a bit at the attention and closed its eye again, satisfied. But Sylvan was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even notice Lisandra growing restless at the silence behind him, he didn't see her sneak up next to him, or stick her foot out as he walked down the road absorbed in his thoughts.

_*thud_

Sylvan hit the ground. He lay there for a moment unsure of how he came to be there in the first place, he heard laughter, he looked up.

Lisandra was laughing at him, a bellowing laugh that was echoing down the road.

"I'm sor... i'm sorry but you were distracted and I was so bored!" she choked out in between fits "I can't believe that actually worked!" She bellowed as Sylvan rose to his feet. A devilish glint growing in his eyes "Don't worry about it" he said cooly

Then he reached up and snatched her hat right off of her head. Placing it on his own.

"What that's it?" She asked laughing, "You know?" She looked at him in mock contemplation "You don't look half bad in a Wizard's ca-"

" **Aquos** "

_*Splash!_

Three gallons of water formed mere inches above Lisandra's head, and came crashing down on her, without the hat to cover her head, she felt it all as it ran down her body.

.

..

...

"Y... You... Bastard." She said in a deadly serious tone.

Sylvan saluted her, then spun on his heel and ran down the road as fast as he could

"GET! BACK! HERE!" she shouted, drawing her stave and chasing him down the road "GET BACK HERE AND DRY ME OFF YOU SON OF A-"

" **GUST** " came the full volume reply from down the road, suddenly a huge blast of wind slammed into Lisandra, pulling all of water off of her and going until she felt her clothes dry.

She fell to her knees and looked into a surviving puddle of water, taking in her reflection to make sure that nothing was out of-

"MY HAIR!" she shouted looking at her mane as it was frazzled and parted all over the place she heard her master's laughter disappearing from further down the road

"He is so dead" she stated simply before standing up and chasing after him once more.

* * *

_ Though the Captain did not know where the duo had gone, he did tell me the road they had taken, after talking with some of the people who lived on the countryside, I eventually tracked their movements all the way to Varristen, though I had still failed to catch up with them and could only record that which I had heard from the aftermath of their foray into the City of Blades, the rumors suggest they were looking for someone specific. _

 

"Identify yourself and state your business." A tired guard asked the duo

"My name is Sylvan, this is Lisandra we're just wanderers looking to take in the sights" The wanderer stated. The guard sighed and eyed them up and down, a silver haired man clad in a sky blue tunic, and a young girl riding on his shoulders wearing a white undershirt and violet vest and skirt, a pointed hat adorning her head. She gave the man a tight smile but her eyes her unfocused, as if her thoughts were elsewhere.

"Alright, don't know what brings you here this close to sundown but enjoy your stay" he stated, motioning for the guard atop the wall to open the gate.

It creaked open and the man gave him a polite nod before entering the city "Thank you" came his reply.

After the two had left he made his way towards the check in station to mark them down  _'that's odd'_ the man thought  _'there appears to have already been a 'Sylvan' here several days ago. Small world'_ he thought with a shrug.

 

The next day, Sylvan had left LIsandra to go and gather any information she could on local swordsmen to see if she could possibly find someone who lives here that might suit their needs as Silveron's wielder. While she was off searching locally, he made his way towards the arena, to gauge the more 'foreign' combatants.

The town was indeed much larger than Arwha in scale, and also livelier  _'which makes sense given, Arwha recently exploded a little bit'_ he thought to himself. There were blacksmiths all over town making a killing either fixing weapons or fulfilling custom orders, and Sylvan thought he had yet to see a single person not carrying some kind of blade. The weight of the greatsword began feeling like more and more of a comfort as he made his way to the grand attraction that he had heard the criers and fliers all raving about. The Arena.

The common room of the arena was rife with life, people shouting, betting pools on the next fight piling on the gold, and tons of liquor passing through people's systems.  _'It's only morning but I suppose drunks will do as they will.'_ he thought as he looked at the sheet on the table in front of the large pool of gold indicating the various bets people had made, at the top of the list read the names of the next two combatants

 _'Drui Sherridan, and Asherra Fensdottr'_ Sylvan took in their names, wondering if he might get lucky enough to find what he came for this early. He parted with a few coins for a ticket, and then made his way into the stands to watch the fight.

 

His hopes of finding a swordsman this early on were dashed however. When he looked upon the actual combatants. the man 'Drui' he guessed, wore heavy plate armor that bore the mark of an order Sylvan did not immediately recognie, and he carried a large Scythe, his large imposing form and black tattered cloak looked to most people, absolutely terrifying especially when compared to that of his opponent.

The woman, identified as Asherra, had long auburn hair and was wearing a red beret, her armor was much lighter and appeared to be some kind of leather, though the type was unknown to the Wizard, it was green and seemed almost... Scaly when he looked closely, but it only covered her chest her arms were completely exposed save for her gloves and the armbands running up to her elbows. A quiver of arrows adorned her back and she carried a longbow, with a few pairs of daggers sheathed in her boots and belt respectively, her boots and pants appeared to have some kind of ringed chain-links running over-top the leather, almost weaved into the outfit.

 _'Well, this was a waste of time but I paid for the ticket might as well stick around.'_ Sylvan thought as he sighed and examined the odds of both combatants, Asherra seemed to have the speed advantage as she was not weighed down by the heavy armor of her opponent, and she technically had a distance advantage, thanks to that bow, but if this 'Drui' could close the distance, her daggers would be no match for the reach that massive Scythe would give him, plus she may have the ranged advantage, but that plate armor was going to make the girl consider where to shoot very carefully, and her arrows likely wouldn't even penetrate it. The only place not covered by armor on Drui's form was his head, which makes for a small problem in an arena fight. While it is true gladiators die all the time in this environment. There are few who are willing to actively attempt to kill their opponents, because if they intend to have a career as a gladiator and don't show their foes mercy, it is almost an unspoken rule that you will be given none either. Technically however, there are no rules against death, it's just considered 'bad form' to put it mildly.

He leaned further in towards the arena as the announcer came out into the field to introduce the combatants, after the man finished the introduction he scurried off as a gong sounded signaling the fight to begin.

 

Drui immediately sprung into action, charging the woman with his Scythe raised over his head, she barely leapt out of the way in time as the blade came down in the space Asherra used to occupy, then man lost no time however, immediately recovering and twirling around, lashing out with the Scythe in a sideways arc.

The woman jumped, kicking the Scythe blade towards the ground with one foot and kicking off of her opponent with the other, letting an arrow fly as she propelled backwards, the arrow pinged harmlessly off of Drui's armor. Landing on her feet, Asherra ran away from him back towards the center of the arena, knocking another arrow as she went.

Drui charged towards her in hot pursuit, intent on not allowing her to gain the distance she would need for her arrows to build enough momentum to penetrate his armor. He swung his scythe in another deadly arc, twirling around in a veritable dance of death, Asherra found herself unable to do naught to defend against Drui's strikes but dodge, however the more he spun, the faster his blade swings were becoming. He kept matching her, step for step. Not allowing the woman to gain any kind of distance.

Asherra dodged the latest rotation of the man's scythe and lunged forward, diving between his legs and pulling one of her daggers. She sunk it behind the armored man's knee, hobbling him in the process. The man let out a cry of pain and stopped his arc, changing direction to bring his blade down on the woman underneath him. But she was already on her feet and running again by the time his blade had re-oriented itself. Drui cried out in fury and yanked the dagger out of his leg. moving on the woman before she could fully gain speed.

The man connected a kick to the woman's back, she spun on her heel as her balance was thrown off, turning to face her opponent, Asherra saw the scythe streaking out, and knew she would not recover in time, so instead of attempting to dodge the attack, she swung the the Scythe with her bow, hooking it through the blade as it connected with her side.

There was a distinctive spray of blood as the blade found it's target, and buried itself in the woman. Sylvan cocked his head to the side slightly as he examined what had just happened. Ordinarily, a strike like that would have signified the end, because Drui's opponent SHOULD have been cloven in two. but whatever that leather was made from, it was doing a good job of keeping her in one piece.

Asherra jumped again, yanking her bow caught in between the scythe blade backwards with her as she sank both of her feet into the man, pushing off of him with all of her might. Drui may have been strong, but he couldn't keep his hands on the scythe against this sheet force, he fell backwards, releasing the weapon as it was dragged back with the girl as she landed on her back a few feet away from him. The two combatants slowly rose to their feet.

Drui let out a howl of rage and charged the girl, fists bared. Asherra fired off another arrow as he closed the distance, once again the arrow pinged harmlessly off of his armor. As he let a haymaker fly however, she grabbed his outstretched arm with both of her hands whilst keeping a tight hold on her bow, pulling Drui down towards her as she jumped again, clambering up onto the man's shoulders. She wasn't there long however as she leapt up straight up off of his shoulders, at the top of her jump while directly above him, she fired an arrow aimed towards his skull.

Drui may have been surprised by the maneuver, but he was not as slow as he looked, he dodged out of the way of the arrow, kicking his scythe back into the air as the arrow buried itself in the ground he had been standing in a second before. As the woman started her descent she closed her eyes, and Drui readied his Scythe to swing as soon as the woman fell back into range.

 _'this is where the fight ends, it was a nice attempt girl, and that gambit *almost* paid off, its a shame'_ Sylvan thought as the Crowed roared in excitement for the end of the fight.

Asherra's eyes snapped open as a glyph appeared in the empty air next to her, she tucked her knees into her chest and yelled as she kicked off of it, propelling herself downrange and away from Drui who was struck dumb by this new development. While upside down and flying towards the wall, she knocked another arrow, and shouted once again

" **Hawk-Feather!** " in response to the statement her arrow seemed to disappear into a silvery, incandescent light that grew three sizes as she let it fly. The arrow arced towards Drui, and he swung his scythe out to deflect the shot.

But as his blade touched the arrow, it exploded.

Drui was thrown back clear towards the other side of the arena, stopping just shy of making contact with the wall.

Asherra was not so lucky, her back hit the wall full force and she dropped like a rag-doll into the ground.

.

..

...

After a moment of neither combatant moving, the woman slowly stood.

She raised her bow over her head in a sign of triumph

...

..

.

The crowed roared in applause "And the winner is Asherra!" The announcer shouted, running back into the field.

 _'That was magic, the girl has been given at least rudimentary level training in the arcane arts'_ Sylvan thought with a dumbstruck look on his face. He had not expected that outcome, She was faster yes, but Sylvan had thought she had no way to actually inflict meaningful damage since the armor left her main weapon useless.

He slowly rose and left the stadium, thoroughly impressed by what he had seen  _'Asherra huh? I might just keep an eye out for you'_ he left the arena and the roaring crowds behind as the girl basked in her victory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed that, like I said it's going to get longer as we move forward.
> 
> Oh and one more thing in case it wasn't clear, she did not kill her opponent, he was just knocked out by the force of the explosion. If he was unarmored, yes that would have killed him.


	7. Thief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As was noted earlier, the Wandering Wizard was reported to have been involved in a single incident at the City of Blades. A young boy, who had a reputation as a pickpocket encountered the man, and poorly judged the Wizard to be an easy mark. Apparently this boy hailed (unsurprisingly) from the slums of the city where he lived in a small shack with his older brother. Where they did whatever they had to in order to get by.
> 
> Given what happened later down the line, I am still undecided whether or not this encounter was a blessing to the boy, or just another example of the worst luck imaginable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I had writers block and that's why this got delayed by a full week, I couldn't figure out how to make the edits in a way that was satisfactory for me. I ended up scrapping this chapter and re-writing it 3 times before I had something I was okay with.
> 
> Reason being: I did not want to overload people with exposition, but at the same time I had to figure out how to explain at least a few things. Plus there was a slightly more criminal perspective to this chapter that I have absolutely no experience with, so that was irritating to write.
> 
> Welp to whomsoever has been reading this, sorry to keep you waiting.

The aftermath of Asherra's battle was pure chaos, the stunning upset left people in pure awe, albeit more than a little pissed as most had bet on the warrior, Drui. It had still been, overall a good match.

A young man watched in awe that his bet on the underdog for the fight had actually paid off. He had excitedly left the stands and collected his winnings. The odds had been completely against her, but he had decided to take a rare leap of faith and had won. His elation as he grabbed the large sum of 100 gold pieces was palpable. The young man bumped into a strange man in blue on his way out, but he had distractedly brushed the man aside and ran straight home. He could not wait to tell his brother about this one.

"Sai, I'm home!" he shouted as he opened the door to the small 3 room shack the two shared.

"That you Mardin?" Came Sai's tired reply. The door to their bedroom was lazily pushed open and Mardin's sleepy older brother emerged from it, rubbing his eyes. He regarded his younger brother with a careful smile as Mardin slammed a bag of gold on the table, followed by a small pouch that did not look like his own.

"Mardin... What am I looking at?" The older brother asked slowly.

"A way out of this mess" The younger brother replied simply

"Did you steal this?" Sai asked pinching the bridge of his nose as if he already expected what the answer would be.

Mardin looked at his older brother appalled "No..." He replied. His brother raised an eyebrow at him "Well... Okay yeah I might have swiped the pouch from some idiot that ran into me, BUT the bag of gold is from a legitimate bet!!"

Sai groaned at his brother "Mardin, no. We agreed we were done with those days I have a legitimate job working as a cook now, I told you repeatedly to let me worry about our debts."

"But Saaaaaiii!" Mardin whined "This is it, there is enough money in here to pay off our debts and then some" Mardin dumped the contents of the bag onto the table "Look! There is 100 gold from my winnings at the Arena and this coin pouch has over twice that amount in it! We can almost afford to both pay off our debts and move into a real house just off of this alone!" He said waving his arms for effect.

Sai looked on at the money on the tale in silent deliberation. It was true that his night job didn't exactly rake in the money they needed, he still disliked that his brother had to lie, cheat, and steal their way to a better life. He had barely managed to keep his brother safe from the crime rackets in this damned town to begin with, if they got wind of a theft happening right under their noses well...

No, they couldn't discover this. If that meant they couldn't return the money, then so be it. He would at least put it to a good cause.  _'besides'_ he thought  _'he DID say that he earned at least a portion of that legitimately'_

"Okay Mardin" Sai spoke, bowing his head in surrender "We'll use this stuff to pay off our debts, but after that no more of this!" He said sternly

Mardin's face lit up "Agreed" He replied enthusiastically "Don't worry Sai, I promise this was a one-time deal."

* * *

"No sir, the pickpocket was not polite enough to tell me his name before he ran off" Sylvan said, the irritation in his voice obvious

"Do you know what he looked like?" The officer stated in a bored voice, people lost things in this town all the time. If this stranger was foolish enough to not keep a close eye on his money, then he clearly did not know anything about the town he had entered save through reputation alone.

"I only know that he was a kid, looked to be between maybe fifteen to seventeen years old" Sylvan said pinching the bridge of his nose. "Kid wore a gray hood so no, I did not get a good look at him I'm only guessing at his age judging from his height."

"Sir I need you to relax now" The guard drawled "We'll do what we can to find this kid, in fact I may have an idea on where to start looking, we'll contact you if we discover anything"

With that the guard walked away making a few final notes in his journal. Sylvan shook his head, he had been so distracted by his thoughts between the sudden appearance of another magic-user and his own unanswered questions whilst searching for a swordsman that he had completely let his guard down. He didn't think his pocket would have been picked by a kid of all things. It was only when he had been on his way to meet back up with Lisandra to take a lunch break that he had even noticed his money was gone to begin with.

_'And now I need to find this person before Lisandra finds out what happened, lest I never be allowed to live this down'_ he thought dryly.

Sighing, Sylvan decided to go back to the arena, hopefully a few people that had seen the kid would still be there, they might be able to tell him where to find the guy. After all it HAD to be that kid that had lifted his cash, he was the only person in the last few hours who had even touched him.

 

When Sylvan had finally reached his destination he saw if much less populated than before, mostly just a small crowd hanging around the combatants. Answering questions, signing autographs, and generally enjoying the air of revelry that comes with victory.

There had been a few more fights since Sylvan had last been here yet still, none of them appeared to be swordsmen. Axe wielders, mace-fighters, and even one odd man who appeared to have no armor but carry several daggers sheathed all over his body. These people wouldn't help him with his Runeblade problem, but maybe-

His thoughts were cut short as he felt somebody bump into him from behind, there was a clatter as whoever it was fell to the floor "Watch where you're going!" someone yelled at him

Sylvan turned to see the female he had witnessed fighting earlier rising back to her feet, Sylvan held out his hands in placation "Apologies I'm looking for something and was distracted" He held out his hand to help her up.

She took his hand and came back to her feet "Yeah? Well keep sharp, being empty headed is unbecoming of a wizard."

Sylvan looked taken aback "Excuse me?" he said "How did you know I-"

Asherra rolled her eyes "Oh please, baggy blue robes, the component pouch, and the staff hanging off of your back are pretty obvious indicators" she looked Sylvan up and down "All you're missing is the stereotypical pointy hat, the swords are an odd sight on you but still, the Silver hair is a nice touch, didn't know Wizards to dye their hair."

Sylvan raised an eyebrow quizzically "This is my natural color" he said  _'at least it is now'_ he added in his head.

"Whatever you say Silver" Asherra stated simply "My name is Asherra, what are you looking for?"

"Sylvan, and I'm looking for a kid who picked my pocket earlier, among other things" the man said.

"Well maybe I can help with that, what do you know about him?"

Sylvan weighed his options, the guard was certainly no help to him earlier, but this girl did seem skilled, perhaps she might be able to find this kid easier. He sighed

"Well you see..."

* * *

The sky was turning steadily darker as the sun set over Varristen a guard who looked to be on patrol stalked through the slums of the city, searching all around him for a particular sign, off in an alleyway, he saw a candlelight flicker for a second before going out, this was it.

The man's name was Agnus Immolatus, he was a man with a wife and child, he joined the guard hoping to help protect the city, but as he grew older and found that being part of the city watch had terrible pay and the job was relatively thankless, he started falling in with more  _unsavory_ elements in Varristen, it allowed him to provide for his family without having to take on multiple jobs, which in turn meant he could provide for his daughter, AND actually be home to raise her.

The only tradeoff of this job, was that he had to turn a blind eye to certain criminal operations in his district, and report anything he saw to the crime lord of the city first, so he could tell him what was okay to report back to the watch, and what operations were his doing.

This was a routine night for him, as he got the signal and started his walk down the alleyway, deliver the report to Crime-lord Danuin, get paid, go home. As per usual when he reached the middle of the alleyway, he felt a bag close around his head and his hands being bound as the gang hefted him into a cart. He may have been on the crimelord's payroll, but that did not mean they were going to let him know where the center of their operations were. He WAS a guard after all.

After about an hour the cart stopped, Agnus felt himself once again being wordlessly carried into a building, he heard a few doors shut and felt himself being carried down a flight of stairs. he was seated in a chair, and only then was the bag removed from his head.

And once again that month, Agnus found himself sitting at a table in a dimly lit room staring face-to-face with Danuin, the man was tall, and wore a very fancy suit made from the finest silks, his face was gaunt and he carried himself with an almost regal air, his face blemished only by the thin scar running from his left cheek to the tip of his jaw, whatever left that mark the man never said, he did not speak of the event, and nobody asked lest they tempt his wrath.

Agnus wordlessly slid his ledger over to Danuin, who poured over it meticulously, Agnus was unsure of how long they sat there, but eventually Danuin closed the book and gestured to one of his men to bring over a bag of gold, which was placed on the table and slid over to Agnus.

"You had a report of a pick-pocket today?" Danuin finally spoke as Agnus was clipping the bag to his belt. He looked up at the Crime-lord and nodded "Yes I did, but it was just some punk kid, too young to be one of yours, I already reported that to the watch"

Danuin's eyes flickered to a spot behind Agnus for a moment before he spoke again "Yes... It seems there is someone new around that needs to learn the rules in my town." The man spoke softly, as if to himself.

"Will that be all then?" Agnus asked. Danuin nodded, the guard released a breath he hadn't realized he was holding in and began to rise "Well then I suppose I'll-"

Agnus never got the chance to finish his sentence. He was grabbed from behind and a blade was drawn across his throat, the man known as Agnus Immolatus died choking on his own blood, but before he left this world forever however, heard heard the calm voice of the Crime-lord speak against the haze in his mind.

"The deal was so simple, you report  _what_ I tell you to report,  _when_ I tell you to report it, look well boys and girls. This is the price paid to those who do not follow directions."

Agnus passed from this world, his last thoughts being of a daughter he would never see grow up.

 

"Dump his body with the others, clear out now all of you I need a moment to myself." Danuin sighed as the guard's body was picked up and stripped of his gold, it was left on the table as they carried him up the stairs and out of the room, once the room was empty, Danuin spoke.

"Lisandra" He said simply

In reply, a little girl appeared in the room, shrouded in a black cowl and robe masking her appearance.

"What is it?" The girl spoke softly "I am rather busy at the moment so unless you have a job I would prefer it if you left us alone"

Danuin laughed "As it happens, I do." He handed the child Agnus' report and she poured over it curiously.

"There is a boy in that report, a thief apparently, not one of mine"

Lisandra studied the page the man had indicated to her and craned her head in confusion "So deal with it yourself, why would you require my services?"

Danuin shook his head slowly and clicked his tongue "Actually, I need both of you for this one you see, the report itself is rather useless, not much to go on. But you've found people for my organization before with far less information to go on then this, this boy needs to be made an example of, a clear message that tells people 'nobody does anything in MY town, without my knowledge and certainly not without my permission."

Lisandra listened to the spiel and shook her head "So you want me to assassinate a kid?" She asked incredulously.

"No" Danuin spoke "I will kill him myself, I want you to find him, and bring him to me." He picked up the gold he had handed to Agnus and tossed it over to her. Lisandra caught the gold and began weighing it in her hand. Smiling, she tucked it away in her cloak "This will buy you a tracker all right, but the rest is up to you." She spoke finally

"Do not trifle with me 'little dragon'" Danuin said, using his preferred nickname for the little Psychopath standing before him "That money is for finding the thief, but I can promise you more if you can bring him to me, alive and unharmed."

"Double this amount and you've got a deal" She said with a smile. Now it was Danuin's turn to look incredulous "That's highway robbery and you know it!" He said exasperatedly.

The girl turned and smiled at the Crime-lord "Of course it is, first you threaten me, then you use a nickname you know I hate, and don't think I didn't hear what you called me in your head a moment ago, hence the increased rate, take it or leave it."

Danuin rolled his eyes "Fine, we have an accord then, go tell your psychotic fool of a master too-"

Danuin never got to finish his sentence, as in an instant, he felt himself being slammed against the wall of the room, as if the air itself had attacked him, he found himself with a Witch's stave in his face, Lisandra looked positively livid, her gaze was dangerous and she spoke in a low voice.

"I'm only going to say this once, I don't care much if you play this game with me, but never think for an instant you can give me orders. Secondly, the next time I hear you even  **think** ill of my master, there will not be enough of you left to fit in a **shoe-box** , let alone bury" With that her voice returned to its normal childish state as she mockingly finished "Do we have an accord?"

Danuin kept his gaze even as he nodded, he wasn't in truth, afraid of this girl in the slightest, but he so hated having to do legwork himself. The girl smiled and put away her stave. "Good" she said turning around and vanishing from the room.

_'Fucking Sorcerers'_ Danuin thought to himself as he dusted his suit off and made his way up the stairs. He still had five more districts to visit and conduct similar deals this night, but at least there was one problem he had that would soon be rectified.

* * *

"Uh Master... Who is this?" Lisandra asked as she took her seat at the table next to Sylvan, across from them was a strange woman in green armor, a bow slung across her back and a drink in her hand. Her feet lazily propped up on the table as she leaned back in her seat taking in the sight of the duo.

"This is Asherra, and she is going to help me with a minor annoyance" Sylvan said to her. He gestured to the woman across the table, and then back to Lisandra "Asherra, Lisandra, Lis, Asherra."

"Ah so the Wizard's apprentice shows herself" Asherra drawled taking another drink "And a child no less, you've some interesting friends Silver"

Lisandra was not amused "Hey! Now listen here pretty-girl this 'kid' could kick your ass in her sleep so why don't you fix your attitude!"

"Is that a fact?" Asherra spoke bemusedly "And she swears to act tough, think I've found myself a winner here."

Lisandra's face turned red and she looked ready to burst, Sylvan rested a hand on her shoulder and shook his head, so she settled for stating in a low, forced cheery voice "I don't like you."

Asherra looked at Sylvan "Nice leash, so lets get down to business, you want me to help you track down the kid who picked your pocket right?"

Lisandra's head whipped around to face Sylvan "That was YOU?" She yelled in disbelief earning herself several stares from nearby patrons, she looked around at each of them in turn before they lost interest and returned to what they were doing before she turned back to Sylvan " **That was YOU!?"** She yelled louder this time, just to show the patrons how little she cared about their stares.

Sylvan raised an eyebrow at her "Yes it was... How did you know about that?"

"I heard from some of the watch while I was out looking for a blademaster, y'know? To do our fucking  **job**!" she looked at him incredulously "We came here to find a swordsman and you not only did you fail to do so, you get robbed AND bring back Bow-Girl over there" She said gesturing to Asherra. "I can't leave you alone to do anything can I?"

"Okay I'm confused, is she your daughter or your mother?" Asherra inquired. Lisandra's head whipped back towards the woman and shot her a death glare.

"Neither" Sylvan said "Now then, do you have any idea where to start looking?"

"Well based on the description you gave to me, the kid is probably a slum rat which means he's incredibly poor, if the amount you said you had in that pouch was true, they're gonna rather suddenly be able to make some rather large purchases, obviously we can't go waiting for them to do that or the money is lost but people in the slums tend to stick together to survive, which means if we go there and ask around a bit, someone can probably tell us who he is, then finding him becomes easy. or easier at least."

Their conversation was interrupted briefly by the waiter bringing them their food. To which Lisandra raised a single eyebrow

"Wait a minute, if you lost your money, then who's paying for dinner?" She asked

Asherra smiled at her "I am, don't worry little girl Silver here has promised to reimburse me in full once he gets his cash back, so go ahead and order whatever you want"

Lisandra looked at her in disbelief for a moment "We're eating on her money?" She turned to Sylvan for confirmation, he nodded.

Lisandra took on a devilish smile  _'Payback is going to be dirty, and delicious'_ she thought as she picked up the menu and poured over it for a minute.

After a moment had passed she called over the waitress "I'd like two of everything on this menu" she stated, the waitress gawked at her for a moment before realizing she was serious, she took her order and left. Asherra smiled at her.

"I thought you might try something like that, unfortunately for you, this place gives refunds for anything you don't eat so you're just wasting the cook's time honestly."

Lisandra's evil eye seemed to practically glow at this point as she smiled back "You don't know me" she said with cheer.

Sylvan clapped his hand into his forehead and stared up at the ceiling "Oh here we go" he said in a resigned voice.

 

"Sai, we have another order for you!" the owner called out from the kitchen as he brought the man a list bearing the latest order.

Sai poured over the list shaking his head for a moment "What did a party show up or something?" he asked

"Nope, this is just for one little girl" the man replied

Sai looked at the list, he looked at his boss, he looked out the kitchen window towards the dining area, then he looked at list again, rinse and repeat about three more times.

.

..

...

"WHO THE HELL EATS THAT MUCH!?"

 

 

It took over an hour for Lisandra's food to arrive, by this time the news of this order had spread to the entire restaurant the other patrons had long since finished their meal and had gathered around the table as the food began to arrive. The cook had delivered it personally and stayed to watch.

"Do they have nothing better to do than watch a girl eat?" Lisandra asked curiously as the crowd watched her begin to take her first bite

Sylvan let out an exasperated sigh "Well its weird when you do this" he said in that same resigned voice.

"Guess the little twerp has to learn a thing or two about pride" Asherra said giving out a small laugh.

"Or maybe you do" Lisandra said as she daintily took the first bite.

And then, all hell broke loose.

She suddenly began tearing into the meal as a man who had been starved for months would have, clearing off a single plate in two minutes flat. She grabbed a napkin and wiped her mouth. The crowd actually gasped in surprise and then cheered as several coins began to trade hands as an impromtu betting pool was established. People betting on whether or not she'd finish the other 23 plates that sat at the table.

A little under an hour later, the crowed roared in applause as the last plate was cleaned and Lisandra leaned back in her chair giving a loud belch that rang out over the noise of the crowd.

Asherra stared in open-mouthed disbelief as Lisandra closed her eyes in contentment.

Then came the bill.

"Consider us even" Lisandra said mockingly to Asherra as she glanced between the bill for the food, the monstrosity posing as a little girl sitting in front of her, and the money she lost betting against her in that pool.

Asherra turned slowly to Sylvan "This job had better be worth it, because you now owe me quite a lot of money" she said in stunned disbelief as she looked at the bill again.

"Yeah... She does this every now and again" Sylvan said lamenting in his head the fact that he didn't have any money to bet with, he could have easily made three times what he had lost he figured.

"Welp i'm tired now, so I'm going back to the inn, I bid you all adieu" She said bowing towards the crowd who roared in applause again at the majestic spectacle they had just witnessed.

As she left Asherra looked at Sylvan "Silver, help me out here, I can't tell if I'm gonna kill the little brat or if I'm beginning to like her."

Sylvan looked at Asherra and smiled "Neither could I at first, its honestly probably a mixture of both."

With that he left the restaurant leaving Asherra to ponder what the hell she had gotten herself into.

_'this is either going to be a lot of fun, or my worst nightmare come to life. They're lucky i'm interested enough to figure out which'_

 


	8. Cornered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something wicked had beset the Wander Wizard's ever growing party that night, it came from a source nobody expected, and even fewer even thought of. The crime-lord Danuin was so focused on his debts getting paid, that even he was blindsided when the threat revealed itself.  
> The girl would later remark "every time that man loses something, something comes to blow everyone up until he gets it back"
> 
> It was an astounding tale to be sure. But I must continue my Journey to Varristen, maybe once there I can get clarity from the local law enforcement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm up in North Carolina for the week with fuck-all to do. So I'm gonna double down on writing this for a bit since we're getting ever closer to some of the parts I am most excited to write. But I also didn't want to just fart out a chapter for the sake of it just because I have the time. So the releases will still be slow, but not AS slow as they've been.

_Guerra’s Diner_ was in a state of complete joviality following the departure of the strange girl. Sai’s boss, Guerra was still raving, a round of celebratory drinks was passed around the establishment, to the further cheers from the patrons.

“Did you see that Sai!”

“I saw it boss, I still don’t **believe** it, but I saw it”

Guerra was in a state of pure joy as he continued “That was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen! I may have to hold a contest to see if anybody could top that! No, that won’t work, nobody will ever repeat that inhuman feat but I could-“

“Boss”

“I’ll hold an annual contest! Soran, mark the date!”

“Boss” Sai tried again

“That’s it, if anybody can even perform half as well as her, and eat one of everything on the menu, the entire meal will be free and I will even reward them with free dinners here for a year!”

“BOSS!” Sai yelled. “Not that I haven’t enjoyed the celebrations, however. We should have closed thirty minutes ago, I still have to get home to my little brother and all.”

Guerra deflated a bit, but gave a look of understanding “Right, right, alrighty folks I hate to cut this short but I got workers who need to go home, finish yer drinks and get out, its well past closing time!”

There was a resounding ‘aw’ from the crowd but eventually, they finished their drinks. Now sufficiently liquored up, they left the restaurant somewhat deflated, but otherwise still carrying on the story of the spectacle they considered themselves blessed enough to bear witness too.

 

                Sai did not make his way home immediately however, he veered off the path leading back to the slums district. He made his way to the Noble’s District, watching the area around him warily and sometimes doubling back as if attempting to lose a perceived tail. He eventually came to a stop outside of a large manor.

‘manor’ was probably not a fitting term for the building he was standing before. ‘Palace’ would probably have been a more apt term, the gate was cast in iron and gilded with a silver trimming, and the finely cobbled road led up to a massive building with stonework that would make even the finest stonemasons salivate at the quality. There were torches leading up the walkway to the house kept perpetual burning with a light that cast no heat due to the enchantments cast upon them, the the staff wore finery befitting of a king, and even the guards of this building wore armor that just plainly outclassed the town guard.

Despite its gaudy and inviting appearance however, Sai knew the truth, crime-lord Danuin resided in this abode, and everyone in this place, right down to the maids had killed many people in his name. The guards were all professional soldiers, men who had lost their sense of morality in one way or another. Some, through the general horrors of war, others because they lost themselves in the heat of combat and came to revere death.

Then there were Danuin’s elite few, known only as ‘The Culled Ones’ whose sense of reality was so warped, they were only ever articulate when they were engrossed in a slaughter, these psychos believed they had death down to a fine art, their minds were so far gone they no longer registered pain, as such they wore armor that caused intense physical pain at all times, but in exchange it granted them incredible physical power and allowed them to think on a more rational level outside of combat, though they only retained their genius level of intelligence when fighting.

Sai steeled himself for the pain that was sure to follow as he climbed over the walls of this place, and stepped into view of the first staff member he saw.

Several minutes later Sai woke up chained to a chair feeling the bruises covering his body more than he saw them, given the bag over his head. He heard footsteps, somebody was in the room with him, good he could work with this.

“I’m here to talk to Danuin, I have his money.” Sai stated towards the direction of the footsteps, they halted their approach towards him.

He felt himself being patted down as a pair of hands roughly patted him down and dug into his pockets “Oh yeah?” A female voice spoke “Then why can’t I find it on you?”

Sai laughed as he addressed the woman he could not see again “Yeah, I’m really gonna be stupid enough to bring the money here to get stolen by one of you, who then kill me, and claim to the boss that you caught me, killed me in a struggle, then dragged my body back here as proof of death, whereupon you receive an even bigger reward.” He finished

“No, I think you cannot touch me until Danny himself shows his face to me, since you have no idea where the money is, you already know where I live so obviously, I buried it somewhere you’ll never find it without my help. Danuin may be twisted but he has his own warped sense of honor, I take him to the money, he clears my debts, I walk, that is the deal.”

“Oh, how I have missed you Sai” a familiar male voice rang out from above Sai, the sound of a staircase creaking could be heard as two pairs of footsteps descended towards him. _‘so I’m in a basement somewhere’_ Sai thought, though it didn’t help him much. With any luck there wouldn’t be any need to make an untimely escape from the premise. He didn’t know who was with Danuin, but if it was a Culled One he’d be dead before he could finish rising from the chair. _‘Hopefully he doesn’t think I’m worth that much security’_ he finished his thought as the footsteps came to a stop in front of him.

Sai felt the drawstring being loosened as the bag was delicately removed from his head. Now that his sight was restored, he could see he was indeed in a grimy old basement, probably still on the premises since his staff would not have bothered taking him across town to one of their meeting places, based on the trapdoor being closed at the top of the stairs blocking out most of the light but for a few dimly lit candles barely giving out any light at all, it was a pretty safe bet in Sai’s opinion that he was probably in the cellar of one of the storage houses on the manor grounds, but which one?

“So, old friend what brings you to my neck of the woods, I believe you still had six months to pay me back, unless of course you have my money now?” Danuin inquired.

Sai sighed before he spoke “I do, but if I still had six months why did you place a bounty on my head Danny?”

“Oh, that’s very simple, to make sure you don’t forget. That bounty grows larger every day but I have refused to let anyone act on that chunk of change, hence why you haven’t been hassled since I posted it ten days ago.”

“I’ll admit that does explain a bit, yes I have the money but not on me I can take you to it however.” Sai replied staring at Danuin evenly.

“Sai my old friend, it sounds like you don’t trust me, I am disappointed.” Danuin flashed him an expression of faux hurt before he grinned “Have I ever been anything but courteous in our dealings?”

“You I trust, I know how you operate, _partner_ ” Sai practically spat the last word. “Your employees however…”

“I see, I see… So, who was it that marred Sai’s appearance?” Danuin spoke in a friendly tone

The girl who have riffled through his pockets grinned “That’d be me sir, caught the rat breaking into your eminence’s humble abode”

“I see, Kainlyn… Was that any way to treat a guest?” Danuin said, the friendliness never leaving his tone

The woman named Kainlyn laughed “Perhaps not my lord, however I was unaware of-

* _smack_ *

Kainlyn hit the ground from the force of Danuin’s backhand, the friendly demeanor was still in his voice as he addressed her.

“Kainlyn... Did you learn nothing from our dearly departed Agnus about moving without my express consent?”

“I-I’m sorry your grace I ju-

“Ah, ah, ah I don’t want to hear your excuses just answer my two simple questions and do not lie to me, one: Did you learn nothing from Agnus? Two: Did you even give Sai a chance to explain himself before you assaulted him?”

“I did learn sir” She replied in a subdued voice

“And the second?”

Kainlyn hesitated

“Kay” Danuin spoke in that same friendly tone “And… Two?”

“I… Did not give him a chance sir, no I assumed he was a common thief and I-

Danuin held up his hand to silence her “Then clearly, the answer to your first question was a lie, who in their right mind would be foolish enough to break into MY estate to attempt to steal anything?” He asked

Kainlyn did not answer

“I thought so, Lisandra… Take my daughter to rehabilitation, she apparently needs to re-learn the rules” Danuin gestured to the hooded figure who came in behind him.

“Father!” Kainlyn started before seeming to mentally slap herself “My lord, I beg of you to reconsider”

“My dear Kay, I cannot bend the rules, even for blood.” He smiled at her, keeping that same eerily friendly tone he’d been sporting since he first addressed the girl “Lisandra” he finished

“Don’t give me orders you pompous half-wit” The hooded figure replied “Get one of your grunts to do it, we still have that business to discuss regarding that issue with the sword”

Danuin clapped his hands together “Ah, of course of course how could I forget. Well I am afraid that must wait until after I collect the money Sai owes me for dropping out of the organization. So, if you would just wait here while we go and get it, I will be right back”

“I take waiting on someone else to get what I want about as well as you do so no, I am coming with you” the hooded girl snarled back at him

“As you wish Little Dragon” he replied with a smirk “Kaedeco! Get down here and take my daughter to rehabilitation!” he yelled suddenly.

A young woman came down the stairs with glossed over orange colored eyes and a suit of plate mail studded with similar orange gems, with lines carved into them in a star shaped pattern she bore a completely neutral expression and walked silently over to Kainlyn, she picked up the woman who now seemed resigned to her fate and carried her out of the room _‘A Culled One I’d recognize that armor pattern anywhere’_ Sai thought as the woman exited the room.

“Well now that, that’s out of the way. Why don’t you take us to the money my friend” He said politely, as if the entire altercation had not even happened.

_‘He used to be so different’_ Sai thought bitterly _‘a good man, until that damnable woman commanding shadows showed up’_

 

* * *

 

 

Sylvan stumbled up the stairs, utterly beat from the events of the day, tomorrow he was going to retrieve his money again, and then inevitably immediately part with it again as the bill for Lisandra’s revenge feast caused him to have to turn it all over to Asherra. Still, at least with that distraction out of the way perhaps he could recruit her services to help find a sword-master capable of taming that damned Runeblade.

No wait, he’d have to be able to pay her to do that, he was certain he’d be in debt to the woman even after giving her all his money thanks to a reckless and impulsive little brat.

Perhaps he’d make Lisandra pay for her services with some of her money… Wait… No, he’ll make her pay the woman back for the meal!

Sylvan was lost in this train of thought when he reached the door to their room, he steeled himself, knowing that the girl would almost certainly refuse his request to have her pay her own debts.

He cracked the door ajar, peeking inside to see whether the kid had gone to sleep yet.

 Looking inside he saw that the room was vacant. _‘where’d she run off to?_ ’ Sylvan wondered, _‘she normally falls right after eating that much’_ He looked around the room, nothing was out of place and there was no fight, besides if there had been an issue he would have heard a struggle of some kind.

_‘I’m probably worried about nothing, she’ll come back when she’s finished whatever she’s up to’_ Sylvan decided. Sylvan took a seat in one of the chairs in the room, deciding against sleep until Lisandra had returned from wherever she had gone.

_‘I’ll just… sit here and wait, best to be sure she gets back alright, no sense in chancing anything else going wrong…’_ Sylvan thought as he yawned.  He leaned back in the rocking chair and rested his eyes for just a moment.

 

Sai backed away from the warehouse door “locked, wonderful” he said. Turning back to face Danuin he gestured to the door “It’s in there, if you would be so kind”

Danuin rolled his eyes and walked over to the door, he placed his hand on the handle, Sai would have missed it if it hadn’t been dark, hell he might have missed it just if he hadn’t been paying attention. But he saw the faint light that briefly emitted from Danuin’s palm for a second. The door slid open.

“Perhaps you weren’t pulling hard enough old friend, doesn’t seem locked to me” Danuin said cheerfully, a glint of humor in his eyes.

It was Sai’s turn to roll his eyes but he said nothing as they filed into the warehouse. Sai ran over to one of the back corners and began moving boxes.

“So why go to all of this trouble just because you, albeit justifiably, don’t trust my people?” Danuin asked

“I didn’t know you were keeping your people away from me, so I wasn’t risking someone breaking into my house while I was out, only to ambush me when I returned.” Sai answered simply

“Sharp as always Sai, though as you can plainly see now, unnecessary I am curious as to how you made the money though, I hear you’re a cook now, that job cannot possibly have paid you that well.” Danuin spoke offhandedly, as though he were searching for something.

“Don’t know why you care Danny, what’re you getting at anyways? Ah here it is.” Sai moved the last box, shifting the broken bit of stone the boxes rested on, he grabbed the pouches.

He turned back towards Danuin and tossed him one of the pouches, Danuin reached out to catch it, but a smaller hand shot out and intercepted it first.

“Lisandra” Danuin spoke dangerously “What are you doing with my money?” as the girl seemed to be staring intently at the pouch in her hand.

“Um… Is there a problem” Sai asked as the lanterns in the room suddenly went dark.

The light came back a moment later and Sai felt himself choking as he was suspended a foot in the air, his back against the wall. Held in place by seemingly nothing, the dark robed girl was a few feet from him now and had a stave levelled at him as she turned the pouch over in her hands, never taking her eyes from it.

“Sai, was it?” She asked though Sai found himself unable to answer as some invisible force continued to restrict his breathing. “I think you should answer the man’s question. Where, did you say you got this from again?” Her tone was dangerous, the girl had been mostly silent during their trip but now that he was hearing her more closely, he could have sworn he’d heard that voice before… but he could not place it.

“Lisandra, calm down and release mister Sai, hand me my money.” Danuin spoke again before an invisible force threw him into a stack of crates as well.

“That is the last time I will tell you, never give me orders you piece of filth.” The woman said in a cool voice. She turned towards Sai again and let up enough pressure for Sai to catch his breath, before resuming choking him again “Now, where did you get this. I’d recognize the seal on this anywhere. It doesn’t belong to you.”

“Wait… Sai…” Danuin said clambering to his feet, his eyes sparked as though he had a revelation of some kind “You’re the thief?”

_‘dammit’_ was the only thought Sai could muster as he struggled to breath.

He was unable to answer due to the invisible weight on around his throat, Danuin seemed distracted as he worked out a puzzle of some kind in his mind “Lisandra, please release him I need some answers”

“Yeah I have a few questions of my own” Lisandra said as she released whatever hold she had on him.

Sai felt the force subside, he hit the stone floor roughly, the man slumped over and began hacking up a lung, attempting to catch his breath. It wasn’t long however before he felt himself being roughly pulled up by Danuin, who tossed him onto his back atop one of the fallen crates he himself had been thrown into a moment prior.

“Now then old friend, I am going to ask you one more time, are you the thief that committed an unsanctioned robbery in my city?” Gone was the friendliness that usually belied his tone, it was to be expected anyways. No longer was he in control of the situation, so masking any anger he may or may not be feeling was pointless.

Sai did not immediately answer

Danuin tutted “Your right to remain silence was revoked the second you drew the ire of the Little Dragon, old friend” he stepped aside as the hooded woman Sai knew to be called ‘Lisandra’ stepped up to him.

She drew a knife, Sai knew what was coming next, that she would cut on him until he talked.

This is what Sai expected, it was what he had prepared for in case word of the theft had reached Danuin’s ears.

He was not, however, prepared for a Sorceress.

Instead of cutting on him as Sai expected, she tore open his shirt with the knife instead, and then replaced the knife back inside of her cloak. Lisandra then tenderly ran her hand along the length of his chest, it was _almost_ a loving contact, Sai noted. He could not see her face past the hood, but he did see a pair of deep purple eyes gazing down at him. She spoke slowly

“Last chance, answer his question, honestly for I shall know if you are lying, or you will see what drawing my ire means.”

Sai flinched and looked away, but said nothing.

“Pity” She said in a cooing voice as her ministrations against his skin stopped, she drew her hand slowly up to the center of his chest and then stopped right above his heart, digging her nails suddenly into the flesh of his exposed chest.

“ **Shock Shiv** ”

_‘*crack ~zzzzt’_

Sai screamed in pain as the electricity coursed through his body. He felt the hairs on his arm all stand up on end and begin to burn, every nerve in his body felt as though it was on fire momentarily, and then started to go numb. He could barely breathe, this was a kind of pain he had never felt before.

Then, as quickly as it started, it was over. The electricity stopped though Sai continued to writhe in pain. The girl gave a low laugh.

“Was that pleasant? No? Then answer my question, where did you get this pouch?”

Sai however, was a foolish man and not one to back down easily, he would endure this pain if it meant they discovered not the existence of his brother.

“I stole it obviously, I needed the cash to pay off ol’ Danny o’er there” he slurred out. _‘not good, I’m blacking out just from that’_ he thought.

“No, I’m sorry sweetie. That might fool that idiot over there, but I’m a Sorceress, I can read your thoughts like a book” The girl said cheerfully “So I know you’re lying, BUT since you have a hearing deficiency, I won’t repeat the question anymore.” She cackled, an expression of manic glee on her face.

“No, no, no you already know what I want. So instead of wasting my breath repeating the question over and over for hours and hours to no end, I’m just going to hurt you until you tell me. Not because I HAVE too, no I already have the answer extracted from your head. But because I WANT to, I want you to surrender the information willingly, so you know in your heart of hearts that you gave up the person you desperately wanted to protect, just. Because. I. Hurt. You. Enough.”

Lisandra punctuated the last parts of her statement for emphasis and turned her attention to Danuin

“And you, better go get something to read, preferably on old sword legends, we will be here a while”

Danuin scoffed “So I can’t order you around but you can? In my city, no less?”

The robed girl smiled at him “Your strength is through influence and the clinking of a coin. What I have is power, since I don’t see anyone here for you to order around, and those I have seen can stop me not. Yes.”

“Careful wench, I am not defenseless” Danuin spoke plainly, he moved to leave regardless.

“Ah, ah, ah, not so fast _Danny_ ” Lisandra spat his name before flicking him a gold piece. Danuin caught it with a confused expression, Lisandra looked at him with what Sai could only assume was condescension through the hood. “That is a locator coin, if you move to any of your places, or go anywhere that isn’t the library, I shall know.”

She gave a devilish laugh as she continued “and trust me, with the mood I’m in, it would be unwise to tempt my wrath now. I can easily make what I am about to do to _him_ look like mercy compared to the horrors I will gladly inflict on you should I be provoked any further tonight”

Danuin let out a low laugh “If I didn’t know any better Little Dragon, I’d say you don’t trust me”

Lisandra glared at him. She extended her arm towards him and yelled

“ **Force!** ”

Danuin was hurled out the doorway by a wave of air, there was a crash and clatter as Danuin’s head hit the metal door, it gave in and swung open the wrong direction as he was hurled out into the night. The door broken, but still attached to the wall.

“You’ll pay for that one bitch… later” Danuin murmured as he slowly rose to his feet, his hand holding the back of his head which was now bleeding from the impact with the door. Danuin wandered off towards the library.

“Now that he’s gone” She started, closing the door as best she could before turning and walking back towards Sai. Lowering her hood as she went

Sai did a double take at what he saw

“I know you! You’re the girl that was at the restaurant, the crazy girl that had double helpings of everything!” He gasped out, still recovering from the literal shock he had received just a moment prior.

If anything, Lisandra’s Psychotic smile got even wider “Oh did I? Well sorry if I don’t recognize you everyone there was so forgettable and I’m pretty sure that handsome face of yours didn’t look so much worse for wear as it does now.”

She flicked her stave in Sai’s direction and he felt the invisible force return and slam him down on the crate, some unseen force that kept him rooted to the spot. She stalked over to him.

“Well, enough reminiscing about the past my friend. You are going to tell me, absolutely everything you know about this brother of yours you seem keen on your former partner knowing nothing about. You are then going to lead me to him so I might ask him everything he knows about the man he lifted this from. You are going to do this before the sun rises, and then you are going to die.”

Sai turned away and said nothing, he would suffer through anything to protect Mardin, if it meant this psycho would kill him then so be it.

“Now, where were we?” She asked in mock contemplation, making several tutting sounds “Ah, I believe it was” Lisandra drew out the final word as she levelled her stave over him.

“ **Profane Speech: Pain** ”

Sai’s choked screams could still be heard echoing throughout the entire warehouse.

 

* * *

 

 

Asherra was leaning out of the balcony of her room, replaying the events of the day in her head.

First, she won her fight against Drui, even held a decent conversation with the man, who seemed amicable enough about the whole thing despite actively trying to kill her in that match. Even apologized for it stating _‘A war scythe is, unfortunately, a weapon designed to kill. And the only weapon I was trained with’_

Which was fine in her opinion, the man bought her a drink in recompense before being called over to another table by that little girl…

_‘Oh, that’s right’_ Asherra thought to herself _‘I saw Lisandra earlier today, didn’t really speak with her so I kinda forgot, but yeah she wanted to talk with Drui about something I wonder if she remembered me, probably not she didn’t seem to at Guerra’s, course she was interested in the big man, not me.’_

After that she had gone around to the town notice board looking for bounties that had been posted, didn’t really see any that interested her however so she went looking for her contacts in the underground to try and see if anything more interesting had showed up. There was one that the nobility had posted on crime-lord Danuin but even she wasn’t stupid enough to try and break into his compound.

_‘course that interesting pair I met ARE wizards… Maybe instead of paying me back with cash I can get their help with that. Favor for a favor and all that.’_ She thought idly.

She lazily gazed out into the streets and caught sight of frantic movement. She squinted her eyes and leaned in closer.

_‘Then again, speak of the devil…’_ She saw the very man she had just thought about taking down running injured through the night, he appeared to be alone. His destination she did not know. But she picked up her bow and quiver

_‘He looks to be in a hurry too, it’s a damn shame he’ll never make it looks like it’s my lucky day.’_ She thought. She looked at her armor for a moment before deciding against donning it, the man was moving quickly and who knew when she’d ever catch him alone again. She settled for picking up a couple knives and quickly throwing on a coat and her boots. Which she stored the daggers in.

_‘Sorry buddy, it’s just business’_ she thought as she jumped onto the roof of a nearby building and began to pursue her quarry.

She didn’t have to look far, Asherra caught him waltzing into the public Library of all places. She decided to wait for him to leave, and in the meanwhile set a trap.

_‘he’ll probably leave out one of the side exits to avoid being seen, I don’t know what he’s doing here but no doubt it’s incredibly important for him to be moving injured in such haste at this hour.’_

Eventually, after what felt like hours though truthfully, was only ten minutes, she saw him exit through a side door leading into an alley, just as she had guessed. He was holding a book between his arms though she could not tell the title from this distance. Asherra readied herself from the roof of the building to strike. Lowering herself down on a rope as quietly as she could.

Danuin stepped exited the alleyway and was close to slipping into another one across the street when an arrow came flying out of the alleyway he had just vacated, it pinned him by his collar to the wall he had been supporting himself along on.

Danuin gave a start of surprise as two more arrows pinned him to that same wall by his sleeves. Asherra stepped out of the alleyway, a fourth arrow already nocked and levelled at him. Danuin groaned in frustration.

“Forget to return an overdue book Danuin?” Asherra asked him coolly.

“As much as I would love to play with you tonight girl, I haven’t the time as I really need to be somewhere, release me now” Danuin demanded calmly.

Asherra clicked her tongue at him “I don’t think so, see this is what you might call a ‘golden opportunity’ for me, a loootttta people want you brought to them alive and they are willing to pay through the nose to make it happen, and here I am just minding my own business. When you show up all injured and alone, for what possible reason should I let you just slip away?” She asked as she moved closer to her quarry.

“Simple, I can pay you more for your help instead.” He stated

Asherra laughed, people always thought they could buy her. This man probably could afford it, but he also had a reputation, no as soon as he was done with her he wouldn’t be paying her anything except an early grave.

“Oh yeah? You have more than 10,000 gold on you eh?” She said sarcastically

Danuin cocked an eyebrow at her “Of course not who the hell has that much cash on hand.”

“Then this conversation is over.”

“If you would let me finish” Danuin said in frustration “I don’t have that much on hand, but I can pay you ten times that amount if you run a simple errand for me”

Asherra wore a face of disbelief “Yeah and while I go off and do that you get your boys to come and kill me, thanks but no thanks now dead or alive you’re comin with-

Danuin snapped and cut her off “LOOK MY BEST FRIEND IS ABOUT TO DIE IF I DON’T DELIVER THIS BOOK TO LISANDRA IF YOU KILL HER FOR ME AND SAVE SAI I WILL PAY YOU TEN TIMES THIS AMOUNT AND EVEN LET YOU TURN ME IN I SWEAR ON WHAT LITTLE HONOR I HAVE LEFT!”

Asherra halted

“L… Lisandra? Sai? Guerra’s chef? What do they have to do with this?” She asked, a puzzled expression on her face.

Danuin sighed “So Guerra’s is the name of the place he works now? Wait, no not important. I don’t know how you know of the ‘Little Dragon’ but she lost her mind when she saw a coin pouch he was going to pay me back with and is torturing him, probably to death, as we speak.” He said in a haste

Asherra lowered her bow

“Okay Danny-boy, you’ve got my attention so keep talking”

Danuin recapped the entirety of what had gone down, Sai’s break in and their subsequent trip to the warehouse, followed by the money and Lisandra’s rage.

“I think I know where that is, I’ll take the job but I swear to the gods if this is a trap, there is no force on this earth that will save you from me.” She said a moment after he had finished his story

“Good, I won’t ask how you are acquainted with the girl, but know that she is so much stronger than her frame suggests, you need to go in prepared” He spoke in a much calmer tone now that his message was understood.

“I agree with you there, but unfortunately I don’t have time to run back, armor up, and get to the warehouse, not if you want Sai to live anyways, I have to go now.” Asherra replied

“I won’t dispute that point, but she’s got me traced with a locator coin, so I cannot fetch you any help, unless you know of anyone on the way to this place” Danuin explained to her apologetically

“Right you said that if you try to run she’ll come after you, probably kill Sai straightaway” Asherra screwed up her face in concentration, thinking of a solution.

“I cannot believe I’m trusting you this far but… Give me the coin” She said finally

“Excuse me?” Danuin said in exasperation

“I’m heading straight there, a locator coin can only ascertain to the caster its own position, not who’s carrying it, she won’t know the difference until she has a visual. Meanwhile I need YOU to go to the hotel I was staying at and fetch a friend of mine who is also staying there, he may be able to get through to her. After that you can bring whatever backup you please.” Asherra explained.

“Hmm” Danuin considered her words “So I bring this friend of yours, and I get to go free? Done deal.”

He tried to reach his hand out towards her but was stopped by the arrow pinning him by his sleeve.

“Right” Asherra said in light embarrassment, and pulled the arrows.

Once freed Danuin once again extended his hand towards her

“So, we have an accord then?” He asked

She stared at his hand momentarily

_‘I feel like I’m making a pact with a devil’_ she thought with trepidation but she took his hand regardless

“Then I will get your backup, what’s their name?” He asked her.

“Sylvan, I didn’t get a last name” She answered

Danuin’s expression shifted momentarily but he shook his head in acknowledgement _‘okay that was weird’_ she thought _‘does he know him too? Probably if he knows the girl’_

Asherra spun on her heel and ran down the alleyway towards the direction indicated. Danuin shook his head as he watched her go

“Like hell I’m getting that man, he’s even crazier than she is” He muttered to himself “Lowlife bounty hunter better hope she can take care of the Dragon on her own, cause if he shows up you’re only going to die”

With those last words, Danuin turned and headed back towards his manor to ready his defenses, there would be penalties to betraying Lisandra and he’d best be prepared for when the other girl died.

 

* * *

 

 

“Master, I think I got a lead on your missing money” Lisandra said kicking Sylvan awake

“Huh, what I wasn’t sleeping” Sylvan said jerking awake from his chair, he looked around. It was still dark outside the window and the excitable little girl had roused him from his sleep, _‘wait did she say something?’_

“Lis, it is very late can’t this wait?” The Wizard said groggily

“NO!” She shouted as she kicked him again, this time a bit more painfully than before. Sylvan clutched his shin as he reeled back in the rocking chair from the pain

“Okay, already what is it?” he said through gritted teeth and watery eyes.

“I said I found a lead on your missing cash” she replied smugly. Clearly, she was pleased about something.

“Okay, but how is it you managed this so quickly, when I needed to recruit a tracker just to know where to begin to look?” He asked

“A friend of mine told me” She said. Sylvan waited for her to elaborate.

She didn’t

Sylvan rolled his eyes “Okay… All we’ve managed to figure out is that the culprit is somewhere in the slums, that narrows it down to a single district but there are still hundreds of people to search through, what did you discover?” He asked

“Some kid named Mardin picked your pocket… One of the people who were at the arena at the time supposedly saw it” she said slowly

“How did you know who was at the arena? I went alone.” He asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah… I went back to that place to search so we wouldn’t have to rely on that _Puf Kemn fruna’s_ help, there happened to be a few there who were still talking about her fight”

“Elvish, really?” Sylvan asked “Do you dislike her that much?”

Lisandra blinked at him “Huh, no not at all, as far as I’m concerned we’re square on the whole ‘treating me like a stupid kid’ thing. I just don’t like her as a person, like at all.” She explained.

Sylvan pinched the bridge of his nose, “well great I guess we don’t need to work with her now, but I still owe her money for your little food war. I think this can still wait until morning.” With that, Sylvan got up to move over to the bed.

Lisandra grabbed his tunic and tugged “No, the sooner we get this over with the sooner we can get back to finding a sword master and getting the Runeblade ‘in play’ as you put it. Which I’m already working on, we handle this now for making me go out of my way” She demanded

Sylvan sighed “Fine, you win, let’s go now.”

“Knew you’d come around master, all right so the kid is named Mardon. Now we just have to find his house”

“Sounds like a plan to me” Sylvan commented

“Well duh” Lisandra said condescendingly “Someone has to have a plan since you never do”

“Alright don’t push it brat”

  
Several minutes later they were wandering the streets heading towards the slums, along the way the duo passed a group of drunks, not willing to risk having anything else taken from him. Sylvan sidestepped them, Lisandra kept staring at them as they passed them by.

“Something interesting?” he asked

“She turned back to him and smiled “Guess some people enjoyed my show a little too much” she laughed.

“What do you mean?” Sylvan inquired as he stared at the disappearing forms of the drunks.

“Those guys were at the restaurant earlier tonight during that whole thing with _Bcolrupedlr_ ” She answered with a smile

“They look like common drunks to me; how can you tell that?” He asked with a cocked eyebrow

“I have a photographic memory, don’t know their names but I recall all the faces that were there with us during the event” she said.

“How is this the first I’m hearing of this?” Sylvan demanded

Lisandra gave him an incredulous look “Remind me, how many times have I told you this in the past five years?”

Sylvan laughed “You tell me, you’re the one with perfect recall, also saying it in elven doesn’t make it any less rude”

“Photographic, not auditory, I prefer seeing people’s faces and actions rather than remembering their words but I think at last count it must have been at least one hundred now.”

They stared at each other

And shared another laugh

“Let’s get going you little brat.”

 

* * *

 

 

Asherra crept inside the warehouse, taking care not to make a sound as she went. The door’s lock was blown apart just as Danuin had said it would be, while the crates were smashed and scattered everywhere _‘this is the place all right, let’s hope I’m not too late’_

As she made her way indoors, she heard faint wheezes coming from somewhere inside, she kept low to the ground and practically crawled along the floor to keep out of sight of an enemy she could not see.

_‘Hells, this girl really tore the place apart’_ she thought as she moved closer to the noise, Asherra nocked an arrow and prepared to fire upon the first person she saw.

She approached the room where someone was struggling to breath and mentally prepared herself

_‘3… 2… 1… NOW!’_ She shouted in her mind, she rolled out from behind the wall she had been crouched behind with her bowstring pulled back.

The room was empty, save for the body that lay on the crate.

Sighing, Asherra lowered her bow and stalked quietly over to the body. It coughed as she approached.

“Hey… Are you alright sir?” She asked the person, she looked over him.

He looked like hell

There were scars all over his body where some strange kind of puncture wounds made too cleanly to be a knife dotted his flesh, as if put there by magic, and he appeared malnourished, like he had just spent three months in a dungeon rather than an hour at the mercy of a single little girl.

“Good gods what happened to you?” She asked bluntly the man stirred

“Oh gods… That devil child… She’s gone, oh no… no, no, no, she can’t be gone, that would mean…. Oh no Mardin gods forgive me I tried…” The man whimpered out in between haggard breaths.

“Sai, I need you to calm down and shut up now.” Asherra spoke loudly to make sure he heard her “Shut up and tell me where Lisandra has gone?”

Sai recoiled at the sound of the girl’s name “No, no more… No more… I can’t… I…”

_‘Okay this is getting stupid’_ Asherra thought impatiently, perhaps that’s why she smacked him

“Back to reality now sir, where the hell did the girl who did… This” She said gesturing at Sai’s body “run off to?”

Sai seemed to snap out of his stupor for a moment, he looked at Asherra as if noticing her for the first time.

“Lis… Lisandra… She…” Sai’s eyes widened in fear “I told her everything, I tried not to but the pain… Oh gods the pain” tears began to well up in his eyes.

“FOCUS!” Asherra snapped at him _‘I am not a fucking wet nurse I have no patience for bedside manor’_ she added in her head. “Where. Did. She. Go.” Asherra spoke slowly, punctuation every word and speaking slowly to make sure this half-crazed idiot understood.

Sai blinked and narrowed his eyes at her “She uh…. She went to my home, my little brother is there now, she’s gonna kill him.” He said, as he spoke the words he broke down again and began shaking.

Asherra rolled her eyes and patted his shoulder “It’s okay buddy, just… Take me to your home, we’ll get your brother and get out before any harm comes to him” Though she was uncertain of her own words, who knows how long it had been since the girl had come and gone.

“Okay… Okay…” He stammered out. Sai took a deep breath and turned to look Asherra in the eyes “I’m not ready to see that psychopath again, but to help Mardin… Let’s just… Go” He finished.

_‘Now we’re getting somewhere’_ Asherra thought with relief. “Alright, lead the way buddy, we’ll get your brother out safely and then get you to a medical ward, everything’s gonna be just fine.”

_‘What in the hells possessed me to say that, now we’re gonna die for sure’_ were Asherra’s last thoughts as they exited the warehouse. The two made their way towards the slums, uncertain of just what kind of fight they were in for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to use Tolkien elvish for the language in this story, unfortunately it is a pure tongue that lacks swears. Which means I cannot use it for this gag with Lisandra using elvish instead of english for particularly nasty swears, especially where Asherra is concerned.
> 
> So for now I used Al-Bhed as a placeholder language. Will I keep it? Probably while it's on here. Once I move to publish it? Probably not I don't want Square to get mad at me. But I'm using it for now, deal with it.
> 
> You can run it through a translator if you really care in the future but since this is the first introduction of it I will tell you what the italic'd statements mean now
> 
> puf kehm fruna = Bow girl whore  
> Bcolrupedlr = Psychobitch
> 
> Haven't decided if I'll translate it from now on but figured I ought to for the first chapter I'm using it at least.


	9. Search

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There was reportedly an uneasy air hanging over Varristen that night, some sense of dread coming from an unnamed source, the people were restless, and felt an oppressive aura hanging over the entire city that spoke of ill tidings. The veterans who had fought in the old wars told me:  
> "It was like the eerie calm that came the day before a battle, and the unsettling nature of this calm made every hair on my body stand on end, it was that same calm, which made me anxious as to how bloody the battle in question was going to be."
> 
> Perhaps that is the reason the people reacted the way they did when the fight broke out.
> 
> I only wish I had been there to see the excitement unfold. But alas, I was not, perhaps next time however, now I must find out where their road took the group next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus Chapter for the week, probably not even the last one for this week either. Amazing what I can accomplish when I have absolutely nothing to do but write for six days straight.

_‘She’s been real quiet the last hour or so’_ Sylvan remarked as they crept closer to the dilapidated shack that supposedly, contained the culprit who had picked his pocket yesterday afternoon.

It had taken them a bit of information gathering, Lisandra had paid the local drunks who had taken them to a bar. The barkeep had then in turn, led them to an information broker who gave the specifics on where this ‘Mardin’ resided.

The two had been on the move for almost two hours looking for this place, dawn was still some ways off.  But it was beginning to look like this matter would be resolved soon.

 _‘Everything is going pretty smoothly thus far… So why does the air feel so uneasy?’_ Were Sylvan’s worried thoughts.

He looked over at Lisandra, who was focusing on the Shack with a single-mindedness usually reserved for demons and similar ilk, Sylvan grabbed her shoulder and gave it a quick shake in an attempt to bring her out of her stupor. She shook her head and stared at Sylvan curiously.

“It’s just a human kid Lis, there’s no need for acting like we’re about to go to war.” He said

Lisandra shook her head at him again before responding “You forget, I’m just a human kid too, this has gone fine so far but I’m not going to leave a damn thing to chance at this point, not with the trouble this whole thing has caused.”

Sylvan shrugged his shoulders and sighed _‘point taken, being a child doesn’t seem to mean a thing in our line of work’_ he thought. Still, he persisted “Look, this was just one random incident of petty theft, alright? We’re going to walk in, take my money back, subdue the threat _without_ killing if there is one at all, and then leave.”

“You feel this oppressive aura just as much as I do, don’t pretend you don’t” Lisandra snapped at him in silence. “This kid might give us a real fight and if you fail to plan accordingly, then really you are just planning to fail. I see him make a move, I’ll kill him, this is an aura I haven’t felt in years.” She finished

“Yeah…” Was all Sylvan could say _‘now that I think about it… it does seem familiar’_

Sylvan shook the thought from his head “Regardless, don’t go pulling that vanishing act you did a while ago while I was talking to that broker, I got enough to worry about without keeping an eye on you as well” he chided

“Master, I might be small but I can take care of myself.” She stated flatly “Besides I left you the money to pay the woman, which by the way I expect you to pay me back on.” She was snickering by the last part of her statement

“I’ll keep it in consideration, but if we’re playing that game I’ll just deduct what I owe you, from what you owe Asherra” he countered evenly

Lisandra deflated a bit at that “We’re doing this on our own why do we have to pay her anything?”

“Because she still bought us dinner, and I don’t leave debts unpaid.” Sylvan said in a tone that left no room for negotiation

“So, YOU pay it, that was the deal you had with her, YOU pay her back, not me.” Lisandra said incredulously

“Yes, yes it was” Sylvan said in a neutral voice

“Sooooooooo....?” Lisandra said expectantly

“Nowhere in that deal did I say I’d pay her for YOUR food.” Sylvan said with a smirk

“You prick” Lisandra said with a good-natured smile “By that logic, I don’t owe her anything since she offered to pay for my dinner.”

“True” Sylvan agreed “In which case you can be the one to tell her that. Not me.” He finished with a chuckle

“Oh, don’t worry, I will.” She replied with a smile

 “How did you even find me again anyways?” Sylvan asked “I was already on my way here when you just kind of re-appeared all quiet like.”

Lisandra smiled at him and answered wordlessly, reaching inside of his cloak and pulling out a coin, she smugly flicked it at him.

Sylvan caught the coin and looked it over, smiling as he let out a disappointed sigh. “A locator coin, I should have known. You do know I can take care of myself, too right?” He chuckled.

She smiled back replied simply “No, you can’t.”

Sylvan shook his head in disbelief _‘The Tracker might have a point, she does act more like a mother than a ward’_ he thought

“Hey, I heard that” She said

“Sorry, I thought that was in my head” He replied with a quirked eyebrow, had he really said that out loud?

“Yeah well it wasn’t, you were muttering to yourself” She said in mock frustration. “Idiot” she added under her breath

“I heard that” He mimicked in Lisandra’s voice, the girl simply glared at him.

The two looked each other in the eyes and shared another one of their private laughs.

With that, the two Wizards continued their stealthy approach towards this building that could barely be considered ‘habitable’ let alone someone’s ‘home’.

 

* * *

 

**Thirty minutes ago**

“This place is a garbage heap, what do mean ‘we’re here’” Asherra asked in confusion

Sai paid her no mind, as soon as the shack he and Mardin shared came into view he bolted straight for the door.

“Get back here you moron!” Asherra hissed as she followed the man, she kept her back to him as she went, eyes on the area behind them with an arrow nocked and at the ready to tackle some yet unseen threat.

“Mardin! You better be in there!” Sai shouted, kicking in the front door. The rotted wood gave easily, the door almost fell off its hinges from the force of the kick. There was a surprised yelp and a clatter of cutlery hitting the floor. In the darkened room, it was hard to make out who it was, until the figure responded.

“Sai? What the hell are you doing?” Mardin asked in confusion

Sai flicked on the oil lamp they kept on the table of their makeshift kitchen, he had to confirm whether it was really his younger brother, or if the witch was playing games with him.

As the light from the lamp flooded into the room, Sai almost cried in relief. He settled for wordlessly striding across the room and embracing his little brother.

He was alright. That was the thought that kept repeating itself over and over in Sai’s head _‘He’s alright, Mardin’s alright, he’s okay, the witch didn’t hurt him.’_

Asherra backed slowly into the room, debating on whether or not to close the door, she decided against it given that their opponent was a Wizard’s apprentice a simple rotted wood door wouldn’t keep her out and only deny seeing her coming.

That is, if this still wasn’t some elaborate trap Danuin set.

 _‘Which it couldn’t be, he had no idea I was coming after him to begin with’_ Asherra thought as she shook her head.

She turned to see the boy she assumed to be Mardin trying to unstick himself from his older brother, the confusion blatantly evident on his face.

“Uh Sai, not that I don’t appreciate you getting all emotional for no reason… What’s going on?” He asked. The last time his brother had done this was when he had disappeared out of town with ‘a friend’ for a month, and he came back broken and eager to leave their criminal past behind them.

Sai reluctantly pulled away from the embrace and wiped the sweat off his brow. “Right… Uh, how to explain?” he seemed to ask himself.

“How about, there’s a psychotic little girl that tortured your older brother half to death coming to do the same to you if we don’t leave in the next five seconds so get your shit and get ready to run.” Asherra interjected in an annoyed voice. Her back turned to them, standing in the doorway in a defensive stance.

Sai looked mortified, Mardin nearly quirked an unbelieving eyebrow at Asherra “And who the hell are you?” Asherra turned to look at Mardin, he gave an excited gasp “OH MY GOD! YOU’RE ASHERRA FENSDOTTR!” He shouted.

“Shhh, shush, up shut, shut up, shshh” she hissed at Mardin drawing her finger across her lips in a sign that universally meant ‘shut up’

Mardin however, was far too starstruck to notice as he continued “I’ve been to every last one of your fights, you’re amazing! I’ve never seen anyone do even half the things you do!” Sai looked at Mardin, now equally confused. Sure, he knew Mardin went to see a fight at the Coliseum yesterday morning, but where the hell did he find the money to see every fi-

Sai’s thoughts froze as everything fell into place, he understood exactly WHY Danuin wanted the thief dead for what seemed like a single reported offense.

_‘Most of the guards who patrol the streets are on Danuin’s payroll… there was one official report of the thief… But he’s been at large for months, hasn’t he?’_

“It’s you.” Sai said simply

“And the way you use that bow-what?” Mardin suddenly ceased his tirade and turned to look at his brother curiously “It’s me what?”

“You’re the thief, that coin pouch you took, it belonged to the girl’s friend, that’s why she’s after us. Danuin wants the thief dead because you’ve been picking people’s pockets for months now, haven’t you!?” Sai demanded in a disappointed tone.

Asherra regarded Mardin, an expression of understanding crossing her face. “It seems I’ve been lucky enough to finish two jobs in one shot, though I doubt I’ll be getting paid for one if I complete the other. You robbed that Wizard after my fight yesterday afternoon.”

“Wizard?” Mardin asked, a dumbfounded expression on his face “What wizard? Sure, I lifted money off of that man in blue, and yes I’ve been doing this to pay for arena tickets for the past ehhh” Mardin stopped and thought for a moment “Six or eight months now, but the guards haven’t come down on us so I figured we’re still in the clear.”

Mardin hit the floor as his brother’s fist connected with his face

“You stupid son of a bitch!” he shouted, Asherra once again made shushing noises from the doorway, but Sai was not having it. “No wonder Danuin wants us dead!”

Mardin rubbed his cheek, positively dumbstruck that his brother would strike him, his brother never hit him. His expression changed from that of a kicked puppy however, to a more confused one

“Danuin? The crime-lord?” Mardin said, “What does he have to do with anything?”

Sai wore an expression that clearly asked _‘are you serious’_ as he answered “What does, the CRIME. LORD. Who controls all criminal activity in the entire city, and is notoriously intolerant of dissent, have to do with you committing robbery in his town, under his nose, without his approval? Mar, were you born retarded or something!?” Sai finished with an incredulous shout.

“Well nobody ever stopped me!” Mardin shouted defensively

“Nobody ever caught you, There’s a difference!” Sai countered angrily

“Well maybe his organization isn’t half as clever as they think they are!”

“ENOUGH!” Asherra shouted

The brothers turned to look at the woman, Sai looked embarrassed, Mardin indignant. But unwilling to argue with his idol.

“We don’t have time for this, grab whatever you need to get from this rathole so we can run already, I’m not exactly equipped to be fighting a Witch right now.”

“The term is sorceress, actually.”

.

..

…

The trio slowly turned back towards the doorway, Lisandra was standing in it clear as day, a pleasant smile on her face.

Sai and Asherra reflexively took a step backwards. Lisandra’s smile grew slightly wider as she stepped over the threshold.

“Um… Okay who is this?” Mardin asked pensively, feeling the atmosphere of the room shift but failing to comprehend why.

“Someone who isn’t very pleased to discover this” Lisandra said solemnly, tossing Mardin a familiar bag of gold.

Mardin caught it in reflex, his eyes widened as he looked it over, he stared at Lisandra “Look, kid I don’t know what you’re thinking right now but I’m sorry you can bring this back to your father now” He tossed it back. Lisandra caught it idly, but never broke eye contact with Mardin, who was beginning to feel severely disturbed by this strange little girl.

Her eyes narrowed “He is not my father, I imagine I should be sick of hearing this accusation right about now, but it is what it is.”

Asherra held an arm out towards the girl in placation “Listen, kid. Let’s talk about this, you got the money back, just take it back to Sylvan. There is no need for this to get violent.”

Lisandra turned to look at Asherra, the smile gone from her face “Oh but there is every need to get violent, that boy” She gestured to Mardin, who looked taken aback at how much fear everyone seemed to have of one little girl “took something that doesn’t belong to him, and has been doing it for months, he may not have caused any real damage to me true, but I am still contractually obligated to bring him before Danuin to die. Though if you have my locator coin I expect that he has betrayed me.”

She sighed and rolled her shoulders “Still, the boy has no respect for the people around him, which leaves it to me to teach him a valuable life lesson. Namely, that actions have consequences”

Lisandra took another step forward, this time everyone backed up a pace. Mardin blinked, confused as to why a child five years younger than himself intimidated him so.

Asherra didn’t take her eyes off the girl, settling into a defensive crouch, she spoke solemnly “You two, run.”

Lisandra laughed “Run where? There are no other exits I’ve been here for an hour waiting for the bait to show up!”

“Bait?” Sai cocked his head confused at that.

“For Sylvan, to show me an even greater power” Lisandra explained turning her eyes towards Sai.

“Whos-

“RUN!” Asherra shouted, springing into action suddenly. She threw one of her boot knives straight at the girl’s head. Lisandra raised her stave to deflect it.

Her attentions occupied, Asherra immediately nocked an arrow and let it fly, of course at this distance it wouldn’t kill the girl, but she already had another arrow nocked and readied before the first one even connected with the girl, she leapt backwards to gain some distance before firing the second shot.

Lisandra caught the knife with her stave, spinning on her heel using the momentum to reflect the knife back towards Asherra, she heard the gasp as the knife grazed Asherra’s leg in the middle of her jump, Lisandra then caught the first arrow with her free hand, it burst into flames in her hand.

As the second shot rang out, Lisandra tapped the floor with her staff, a pale-golden sphere ensorcelled her body, the arrow pinged harmlessly off it. Lisandra gave the older woman a condescending look as she pointed her stave towards the ground beneath Asherra’s feet.

“ **Shock Rune** ” She stated in a bored voice. Suddenly, a symbol carved into the floorboard began to glow with a pale-blue light. Electricity sprang upwards from the trap and raked itself across Asherra’s body.

To her credit, she did not scream, despite being in a massive amount of pain. She did let out a small whimper of pain, but she stopped herself from screaming. Unfortunately, the pain did distract her and slow her movements for a moment as the arrow Lisandra had caught that burst into flames was stabbed into her body, with her armor, she may have been able to shrug the attacks off.

Without it, she could not. She did scream this time as the fire entered her body and spread like a virus.

“Did you know, sorcerers have this interesting relationship with fire?” She asked as the girl crumpled to the floor, writhing in agony.

“You see, we have this conjuration called Fiend’s Fire, it’s a fascinating creature. It looks like normal fire, but when exposed to a life-form. It spreads throughout their body on its own, looking for a way into the subject’s body.” She stood over Asherra with an entranced expression

“It looks like one thing, fire, but it’s really another, a demon in this case. Once it claws its way into you like it has, it’s going to devour every cell in your body at once. In the meanwhile, you will be in an unbearable amount of pain the whole time. The process is very slow, demons like to make it last.” She finished with a smile.

“I give it twenty minutes before you are a pile of ashes. Thirty-five if you’re strong. You really shouldn’t have gotten in my way, I respect your abilities as a fighter, but this was a battle that was beyond your ken from the start.”

Asherra looked up into the eyes of this child, this little psychotic bitch that had the ability to kill her on the spot, but chose to make her suffer for the sheer pleasure.

“Burn in hell you little freak.” Asherra spat at her.

Lisandra gave her an understanding smile “You first” she replied.

The pain finally got to Asherra, and she passed out.

“Ordinarily I’d resuscitate you, just so I could watch every last second of your life literally burn away in front of me” Lisandra spoke at the unconscious woman

“Unfortunately, you’d just get in the way and I’d have more trouble finding those two and bringing them back here. Be thankful I’m feeling merciful”

Lisandra stood up and sighed, they couldn’t have gotten far, time to go hunting. She looked around one last time.

Yeah, she needed to hunt these two…

But first things first

 

* * *

 

**Present Time**

They stood on opposite sides of the doorway, Sylvan looked at Lisandra and raised three fingers

Two fingers

One

He slammed the door open with his shoulder, they sprung into the building, Sylvan with his sword drawn, Lisandra with her stave levelled, not really intending for a fight no, just hoping to intimidate whoever was on the other side.

Plus, Lisandra thought it would look ‘really cool.’

Nothing

The lights in the room were out, and not a soul seemed to be there.

“Well that was a whole lotta effort for nothing!” Lisandra said dejectedly Sylvan sighed and sheathed his sword, pulling his staff off his back he uttered “ **Torchlight** ” the staff began to glow with a bright white light.

He did a double take at what he saw.

Their room was absolutely ransacked, it looked as though quite the fight had taken place. The sheets from the adjoining bedroom were torn to high hell and the table was strewn in two pieces one on each side of the room, it looked as though it had been thrown by some powerful force or current.

There were claw marks all over the floor, and walls, as though a beast had ripped through the place, in fact… The marks looked vaguely familiar.

 _“Cher Dieu dans le ciel”_ Lisandra gasped, looking on the scene in horror. She looked deep in contemplation. Sylvan noted the use of High Talietan, a language they had agreed to never use in their day-to-day. Those were words that carried power with them, much like everything else from the Isle of Crescent.

He pulled her hat down over her eyes and walked further into the room. He saw a body underneath one of the ruined halves of the table. He picked it up and tossed it aside.

Asherra was lying there, motionless. Her skin was… Red? Sylvan kneeled down beside her and took a closer look.

He touched her neck to check her pulse and immediately pulled it back, she felt like she was on fire. _‘Red Skin, the claw marks, victim feels like they were recently burnt at the stake, where the hell have I seen this before?’_ He wondered. This situation was so familiar he was sure of it.

“Master… We need to go I think.” Lisandra spoke in a whisper from behind him.

“Not yet, she’s still alive I think.” He replied

Lisandra snapped from behind him “Forget the stupid _ruugan_ already! It isn’t safe here!”

Sylvan turned slowly towards Lisandra, that was it.

“Alright, I don’t know what your problem is but you’ve been acting strangely since you woke me up, calm down. Shut up, and keep watch while I see what can be done about Asherra, cause this petty jealousy you’re feeling every time my attentions become towards a person that isn’t you stops now. This is serious.”

“Jealous!? I’m not-

“ _Aht uv teclicceuh!”_ Sylvan exclaimed in a tone that would leave no room for argument.

Lisandra looked between Sylvan and Asherra’s unconscious form, she let out a frustrated yell and stormed out of the shack.

“Now then, what’s ailing you?” Sylvan wondered aloud as he attempted to touch Asherra’s unconscious form again. No matter where he tried to touch her, her skin burned his hand at every turn.

“This is no common beating you’ve received… It’s almost like-

Sylvan stood up suddenly and backed away from Asherra’s body.

_‘Fiend Fire… Impossible, the only ones who can conjure that are…’_

Sylvan turned towards the door slowly and called out

“Lisandra… Come here, I need your knife for a minute”

No response.

“I hope I’m wrong” He said, he needed a knife. There was only one way he could extract the fire from Asherra’s body before she died on him.

“LISANDRA!” He shouted again.

Again nothing.

“God dammit girl this is not the time to go walkabout” He muttered to himself, suddenly feeling guilty that he chalked up her uneasiness to petty jealousy. If Sylvan was correct, then her fear was very justified.

And he drove her away.

He could worry about that later, he decided, right now he needed to save this woman’s life. Who knows how long the fire had been in her system. That she was still alive at all was a miracle, and a testament to Asherra’s strength, but her life was literally burning away in front of him.

Sylvan looked around, frantically searching for anything he could use to make the incision. He spotted one of Asherra’s boot knives on the floor, he quickly scooped it up and placed it against his staff.

This was not going to feel good “ **High Arcana** ” He spoke, bringing the tip of the staff against the length of the knife.

Fire seemed to drip from the staff onto the knife. The living arcane fire wrapped itself along the blade, engulfing it.

“Sindri” Sylvan called, the fox pelt sprung to life, leaving its corporeal state as a pelt behind and taking on a bluish hue. It looked at him curiously

“When I stab her with this, you need to bite her and use your fire to guide mine along the infection sites, hopefully we aren’t too late.”

Sindri nodded his head in understanding

Sylvan steeled himself, if this didn’t work, all he would accomplish is waking Asherra up only for her to die in agony from the three different fires overloading her system.

He found the site where he judged the fire to have entered from, a small puncture wound near her stomach. He took a deep breath, and plunged the dagger into the spot.

Almost immediately, the fire ran itself along the length of the blade, and flowed into her body. The unconscious form of Asherra gave a sharp intake of breath as the fire began to burn away her cells.

Sindri sank his teeth into the same location as soon as Sylvan pulled the knife out, a blue fire flowed forth from his fangs and engulfed the wound, sinking into her, unlike with Dagus however, Sindri controlled this spirit fire, guiding it inside of her body to sniff out the arcane fire and guide it only along the infected cells of her body. Keeping control of it as the arcane fire located and destroyed the demon in her system.

After several moments, the fire subsided. Sylvan could do naught but wait.

.

..

…

A tense moment later, Asherra’s form began to stir, she slowly opened her eyes.

“You gave me quite a scare back there young lady, if I didn’t know any better I’d say you were trying to die on me.” Sylvan said, letting out a sigh of relief.

“Stow, it, you’re only five years older than me, and dying just seemed like the thing to do.” She said, letting out a guttural laugh that turned into a low groan of pain as she applied pressure to her sucking chest wound.

“How’d you find us?” She asked

“Us?” Sylvan asked questioningly “You were alone when I got here, how’s the other guy look by the way?” gesturing to the room.

Asherra looked around confused “She, and better than me.” Her confusion grew more evident by the moment. “This isn’t how the room looked by the end of our fight…” She gave another groan of pain.

“Lie back, we’ll get you healed right up.” Sylvan said

“No time, she’s crazy and could be back at any moment, she’s trying to draw you into a trap” Asherra spoke suddenly, her eyes were wide as panic seemed to flood her system.

“I just went through a lot of pain to save you, please don’t go into shock now” Sylvan said simply “Now lie back.”

“You don’t understand, shes-

“Master I’m sorry I just had to- Oh bow girl is awake, that’s good I guess” Lisandra said as she re-entered the room.

“It’s not noth-

_*Slam_

Asherra sprang into action, she snatched her knife out from Sylvan’s relaxed hand and tackled Lisandra onto the ground, the movement was so sudden and unexpected that the two found themselves flat-footed by the attack.

Asherra attempted to sink her knife into Lisandra. But it was to no avail, as the girl regained her senses and moved her head at the last moment. Her wits regained, she grabbed hold of Lisandra’s arms and attempted to hold back the next blow.

Being a twelve-year-old girl, ordinarily in a contest of physical strength, Lisandra would have been overpowered instantly. However, Asherra had recently been stabbed, multiple times. Electrocuted, cut, and had her insides burned three times. As such she was running out of stamina and having trouble plunging the knife into the girl who was frantically shouting at her the whole time.

“What the hell are you doing you _Lnywo vilgehk puf cmid_ stop!” She screamed in confusion.

“I’m going to kill you, you psychotic little monster!” Asherra shouted in a hoarse voice.

“Master get this _Tajem duilrat fruna_ off me!” She cried out

Sylvan regained his wits and stepped up behind Asherra, grabbing her by the shoulders and throwing her off Lisandra who, kicked off Asherra’s stomach and rolled into a defensive crouch, stave bared.

“ _Fryd dra vilg fyc dryd oui bcolrudel meddma pedlr_ ” Lisandra shouted in a hoarse voice to match the one Asherra currently had. She coughed a little as by the end, Asherra had switched to attempting to strangle her instead.

“You attacked me you little psychopath!” Asherra shouted.

“Are you sick in the head? You clearly started that!?” Lisandra yelled back

“Don’t even try it! You attacked me, poisoned me with that demon and left me for dead!” She yelled, her anger at its peak, the effort however tore her wound open further and Asherra doubled over in pain.

Both the Wizards stopped.

.

..

…

“Lis…” Sylvan started in an extremely low voice

“Yeah I got it!” she replied shortly

Lisandra wandered carefully over to Asherra and took out a salt packet, she looked uncertainly at Sylvan

“We’ll only have one left…”

Sylvan glared at her

“Fine” She tore open the packet and spread it over the woman’s body.

“ **Velkyo’s Light** ” She said reluctantly

There was a familiar glow as the salt disappeared into Asherra’s body and her wounds vanished.

“Jeez, she was really a mess I feel the internal wounds binding themselves up. She won’t be mobile for a while. I’m amazed she didn’t keel over and die already” She said in a reluctantly impressed tone.

Asherra’s eyes snapped open and she immediately shot up.

“Or!” Lisandra shouted, jumping backwards away from the Bounty Hunter, she levelled her staff at the woman.

Sylvan grabbed Asherra’s shoulders and shook her, she stopped trying to rise but never took her eyes off Lisandra as she addressed Sylvan

“Silver, you’d do well to put that devil down now and destroy the ashes posthumously.”

Lisandra lowered her stave an inch and looked at her with a raised eyebrow “You actually know what that word means?”

“Fuck you!” She shouted back

“HEY!” Sylvan yelled, cutting the argument short before it could begin again. They both looked at him then, though Asherra only for a second before turning her eyes back to the girl whom she eyed with naught but contempt.

Sylvan pinched the bridge of his nose, he hoped like hell he had heard that accusation wrong.

“Okay so who attacked you again?” He asked

Asherra turned towards Sylvan with a cocked eyebrow “do you have a hearing problem? She did!”

“I did no such thing!” Lisandra shouted, red in the face.

“Right, it was some OTHER wizard who happened to be your age and look exactly like you!”

“FOCUS!” Sylvan shouted over the din, but the two were not deterred.

“I didn’t do anything I’ve been outside this entire time!”

“Silver you take on some dangerous apprentices!”

“I’m not a Wizard’s Apprentice!”

“Oh, how could I forget!” Asherra shouted, switching to a mocking imitation of Lisandra’s voice “‘ _The term is Sorceress, actually.’_ IS THAT BETTER BITCH!”

 

Sylvan and Lisandra froze

.

..

…

“What?” Asherra asked

…

..

.

“And you’re absolutely certain this person looked like Lisandra” Sylvan said in a strange voice.

“Looked li- SILVER IT WAS LISANDRA WHAT DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND!”

Lisandra said nothing

“ _Cher Dieu dans le ciel_ ” Sylvan said in a low voice

They both rose

“Master…” Lisandra said in a panicked voice

“…”

“Master!” Lisandra spoke again, this time with a bit more urgency.

“It’s them” he said simply.

“I know… What do we do?” Lisandra asked in a quiet voice

“What we always do when they show up, we run.” Sylvan said with finality in his tone.

Lisandra nodded wordlessly and began checking her bag and cloak to make sure everything she needed was on her.

Asherra chose that moment to speak up “What the hell has got you two so spooked?”

They both turned towards Asherra, as if only just now noticing she was in the room. They shared a look before Sylvan turned back to her.

“You are sure that it was Lisandra?”

“Oh, for fucks sake- Yes!” She said in an exasperated voice.

“Asherra, I don’t know how to explain this to you but… I hate demons, and would never use Fiend Fire, even if I COULD summon it.” Lisandra spoke in a cowed voice.

“Yeah because I’ll believe that after I looked into those darkened, soulless, violet pits of yours as you stabbed me with my own arrow” Asherra responded with a growl.

“Dark purple eyes huh?” She asked, staring directly at Asherra

“Yeah!” Asherra started with a yell, returning Lisandra’s stare evenly. Forcing herself to look into those violet eyes of death once again they were shining brightly back at her “Don’t even try to say your eye-

Wait… Shining…

“Oh…” she said dumbly

“Don’t feel stupid” Lisandra replied in understanding “She threw us for a loop the first time too”

“Why do you two both have such an uncommon eye color as purple? And bright no less?” She asked in a shock.

“All those born in Taliet are born with bright purple eyes, never knew or questioned why.” Sylvan explained

“I heard a tale of one of your number having golden eyes” She said mutedly, still processing the information _‘I almost killed her, a child, for something she didn’t do’_ kept repeating in her head.

Sylvan chuckled “Ah yes, the tale of the Magus, a warrior born in Taliet every 100 years destined to inherit incredible magical powers.”

She looked up at him, staring into his equally purple irises.

“Is that true?” She said in a whisper “The one who was destined to save the world from some unnamed threat?”

Sylvan smiled at her “It’s just a fairy tale”

“That whole kingdom is a fairy tale” She countered evenly, regaining some of her composure “A mystical land so magical, that from the seas to the skies to the ground you walk on, the whole place oozes raw arcane energy, then five years ago, the whole place just up and vanishes without a trace. The island itself suddenly just… Gone one day, traders tried to sail into port and found the island they’d been making the rounds to for years just wasn’t there.”

Sylvan stood up and walked over to Lisandra, helping her up. He turned away from Asherra and spoke

“It would be best for everyone if that place remained forgotten.”

With that, they began to walk out. Asherra left to contemplate this new knowledge.

From her first encounter with the Silver-haired Wizard, to the restaurant purge, to the encounter with Danuin, to that… Not Lisandra girl nearly killing her. To those two boys…

 _‘Oh shit the other two!’_ Was her sudden, panicked thought. She stood up and chased the two wizards outside.

“Wait!” She called out

“What is it because we really need to go?” Lisandra asked

“There were two other people with me in that shack, the um… Other Lisandra is hunting them down as we speak, you need to help me find them!” She pleaded.

“If it’s those two hunting them, trust us, they’re already dead, it just hasn’t caught up with them yet.” Sylvan spoke, “And it probably won’t for days, those freaks like to make it last” Lisandra added.

“You’re just going to leave them?” Asherra asked in disbelief.

“That’s the plan” Sylvan stated apologetically “Look, not for nothing, but the last time we fought those guys was three years ago, if Grandmaster Yraul hadn’t been there, they would have killed us. We can’t win.”

“You keep saying ‘them’ and ‘those guys’ what do you mean, there was only one!” She shouted in frustration.

They stopped

They shared a look

“Only one?” Sylvan said curiously “There wasn’t another one who looked like me with her?”

“Based on what you two have just told me, I’m still alive so yeah pretty sure it was just one.” She said in exasperation.

“Master, you know there won’t be ‘just one’ as soon as we show ourselves, they’re completely obsessed with you and Yraul.” She said defiantly, already knowing what his plan was

For the most part anyways

“They’re ‘obsessed’ with ending the blood of Taliet and getting vengeance for the rest of the Brotherhood of the Blood” Sylvan corrected her “That includes you too sweetheart”

“Don’t get cute, we cannot handle them without Yraul!” She warned.

“You’re right, the two of us probably would die” He responded

“Thank you.” She said, a wave of relief washing over her.

“The three of us however…” He started

“Three of- Master! No! You already saw what happened when _frunadedc_ fought just one of them last time, in what way could she tip the scales!?” She shouted

“Oh good, we’re back to name calling” Asherra muttered _‘does this little pedlr think I can’t speak elven?’_ she thought idly “Look, I left the house in a bit of a hurry, underequipped, and with no idea what I was up against, now that I know I’m fighting a psychopathic wizard, and have time to properly prepare myself I could do it without YOUR help if you wanna stay, I’m interested in the real spellcaster, not an apprentice with dreams of the stars” _‘Yccruma’_ She added in her head.

“Keep it up, your attempt on my life might become retroactively justified” Lisandra replied red in the face “I’ll have you know that I’m ten times the spellcaster my Master is, just in a far more… Destructive field.”

“Then is sounds like we have a plan” Sylvan said matter-of-factly

“I can’t do it here!” Lisandra said, mortified “Not unless you want this major population center to transform into a major cemetery anyways!”

“Wasn’t suggesting you do, we find out where Ash’s friends are, pull em out. Create a very conspicuous exit, and she’ll have no choice but to chase us, her blood will demand it. Then we find an empty field, and we can fight them in an all-out no-holds barred battle to the finish.”

Lisandra scoffed “That’s a great plan, if you’re fixing for an early funeral master! If she finds us, she will chase us, if she chases us her master will join up with her, if HE shows up, between the two of them. We. Die.” She said the last part as slowly and condescendingly as possible, as if explaining a basic concept to a toddler.

“Who would kill you my lady?” A voice called from behind.

Lisandra was suddenly scooped into the air and placed on the shoulders of a black-armored giant.

“Augh!” She yelped in surprise “Dammit Drui, don’t do that!” She shouted.

“Lisandra… Who the hell is that?” Sylvan asked, he saw the man fight Asherra earlier true, but… How did Lisandra know him?

Lisandra blushed and she refused to look Sylvan in the eye, opting instead to look at the head of the man who had lifted her up. “You had your misadventure earlier with the pickpocket… This one was my mistake…”

The giant laughed cheerfully “Nonsense milady Lisandra! You helped me a great deal earlier today!”

Drui turned to Sylvan extending his hand “Greetings master wizard! My name is Drui Sherridan, I apologize for interrupting but I heard the whole thing I’m afraid, so you’re having problems with a couple Wizards greater than yourselves huh?”

Sylvan took the oddly cheerful man’s hand and shook, his hand was almost crushed by the man’s strong grip backed by a mailed glove.

“Sorcerers actually, and yes two of our resident hunter’s friends were taken by them”

The man gave a big smile and addressed Lisandra “Then I see I have a chance to repay milady’s kindness!” He said triumphantly

Lisandra groaned

“Master Wizard, allow me to accompany you on this rescue mission, the plan if I recall, is to grab the two hostages, and then beat a hasty retreat in a very public manner in order to attract their attentions away from the general populace?” he asked for clarification.

“That’s about the size of it” Sylvan smiled ‘ _well he’s not a sword-master, but he can make up for our shortcomings in close range combat… and he makes Lisandra uncomfortable, I might just take this guy with us when we’re done here_ ’ he thought with a silent chuckle.

He met Lisandra’s eyes, they were practically begging him to say ‘no’

Sylvan smiled

“Alrighty Drui, any friend of Lisandra’s is a friend of mine.” He said simply, Lisandra’s look of utter betrayal was priceless.

“We should have a vote!” She shouted

Drui looked up at Lisandra “She’s right, I wouldn’t want to force my company on anyone who doesn’t want me”

“It’s not that I don’t want you Drui, I just think it’s too dangerous for you, I know the people we’re up against, I vote no.”

Sylvan piped up “We need someone who can fight in close quarters to distract them from slinging spells I vote yes.”

Lisandra looked at Asherra expectantly, Asherra just smirked

“I’ve fought this man before, if he wasn’t going out of his way to try to avoid killing me, I probably would have lost that fight, plus Silver’s plan is a solid one, I vote yes.”

Lisandra looked utterly mortified

Asherra smiled “ _Byopylg'c y pedlr yeh'd ed kenmo?_ ” she spoke innocently.

Lisandra’s mortification grew, in fact she now looked like someone had just slapped her.

Sylvan couldn’t take it, he started laughing

His laughter echoed down the street for a full minute

And it was infectious, Asherra also lost her composure and started laughing

Which caused Drui to laugh, though as the only one there who did not speak elven, he knew not why.

Lisandra was beet red by the end of it, and sufficiently silenced.

“Ahhhh… Okay Drui, you’re in. Let’s get going, do we know where she took them?”

Silence

“Yep.” Sylvan said popping the ‘p’ “They’re doomed” he finished with a groan.

 

* * *

 

Sai blearily opened his eyes, _‘what happened?’_ he thought groggily, he looked around the room, it was dark, save for a few candles, if he didn’t know any better, he’d say he was back at Danuin’s compound but the girl had made it abundantly clear she wasn’t welcome there anymore

 _‘that’s right the girl!’_ he thought in a panic, he shot up in a panic. But his rise was stopped by the chains he was bound to. He looked at them, confused for a moment, he grabbed the chains and rattled them, as if to confirm they were real.

 _‘How did I get here?’_ he thought, frantically trying to recall what had happened. Ms. Fensdottr attacked the girl Lisandra, and screamed for them to run, Sai grabbed Mardin and ran to their room, smashing in a window which they climbed out of and beat feet down the street.

 _‘Mardin broke free of my grasp after we’d made it a few blocks and yelled at me I remember that, “We can’t just leave her! I won’t, I’m going back there, she might still be alive!!” Sai tried to stop him, but his brother had already disappeared around the block.’_ He recalled then chasing after him, but sneaking his way back to the house, unlike Mardin, who stormed into the house. There was a scream when he entered, Sai came in behind him.

 _‘Damn’_ was his first thought when he saw her body, he remembered Mardin begging him to help take her to a healer. Sai however, saw the wounds and judged it to already be too late, not wanting to let his little brother down however, he lifted her up and began to make his way out of the house.

 _‘Right, that was when it happened’_ he recalled with crystal clarity. Lisandra had shown up then, he dropped the girl and told Mardin to run, he tried to fight her, but she swatted him aside like he was little more than a fly. He lost consciousness watching Mardin try to run, she lifted the table up with her magic and tossed it at him.

 _‘Everything went black after that, I must have passed out’_ he thought with irritation _‘Mardin you better not be dead’_ was Sai’s worried internal monologue.

“Are we awake now?” A feminine voice called out to him.

Sai turned his head towards the voice

He paled “Lisandra” was all he could manage to say

“At your service” the girl bowed mockingly

“Where is Mardin… Where is my brother you witch!” He growled

She sighed, the smile dropping from her face “It’s sorceress” She corrected him

“Where is he!” Sai shouted

“Shhhhh… Calm down, he’s just fine. For now, anyways.” She cooed.

Sai rattled against his chains “You’d better not touch him!” he yelled

“Not to worry, that’s all dependent on you.” She said

“Me?” Sai’s expression changed from one of anger, to bewilderment.

“You” Lisandra repeated, the smile returning to her face. “You see, I am in a rather difficult position at present.” She began to explain “There’s a couple people you’ve met that I’m rather keen on finding.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about” he said, confusion still on his face

“Perhaps, perhaps not.” She said “That remains to be seen, the Wizard you met earlier, who was with him?” She asked

“What Wizard!?” he shouted in confusion

“You’re not telling me what I want to hear, and you’re being rude, be careful that’s a dangerous road you’re walking.” Lisandra threatened, she sighed “The man you saw me with earlier today, where can I find him?”

“Wouldn’t you know!?” He asked, equal parts befuddled and angry.

“I would, but why don’t you remind me anyways” she said “Start with who all was with us, talk. And your brother lives.” She looked contemplative for a moment before she added “Well, he won’t die slowly, at least.”

“How charitable” He spat at her

She looked at him, an inquisitive eyebrow raised “I think so, we are so very skilled at making it last months if we so desire.” Her smile grew at the look of horror dawning on Sai’s face “You’d be amazed at how much the human body is willing to sacrifice of itself to stay alive, so if you tell me what I want to know, I’ll just kill him instead of re-animating your head to make you watch what I intend to do to him if I leave this room… Disappointed.” She frowned and narrowed her eyes at him.

Sai was uncertain of what to say, he truly didn’t know what this girl was talking about, but he knew one thing for sure. His brother was safe so long as he kept this devil-child in this room with him, and though the thought of being alone with the girl chilled him to his very core, Sai decided on the only course of action left to him. Stall.

“You won’t get me to talk this time. Bitch.” Sai spoke with a deadly venom in his voice.

“How cute, you’re trying to stall me.” Lisandra laughed “I can read your thoughts remember?” She gloated “It’s of no matter to me, we have all the time in the world and nobody is coming to save you, so if you want to stall to give your brother a few more minutes of life, I’ll gladly play along” Lisandra’s egotism grew and she lowered her voice into a threatening growl

“Just know, that every minute we spend talking, is another ten I will spend ‘talking’ to young Mardin.”

She laughed at the powerless and angry expression that adorned Sai’s face. She stood up, picking her stave up from its resting position by her chair as she approached the man chained to the table.

“Now… You wanted me to make you talk… Going forward, just remember that you asked for this.”

Sai closed his eyes and took a deep breath, steeling himself for the pain he was sure to follow

It didn’t help him when it came. His screams and Lisandra’s manic laughter echoed throughout the abandoned house where the two hostages were to be entombed.

 

* * *

 

 _‘Don’t worry Sai, Mardin, we’re coming to save you!’_ Asherra thought with confidence. She let out an annoyed groan

 _‘Just as soon as this damned broker gets back to us with a fucking answer!’_ She shouted in her head.

The waiting and frustration were getting to her. As the four of them sat in their room waiting for the woman to return and tell them if anyone had seen them, or if she knew where the girl called ‘Lisandra’ that wasn’t their Lisandra was based.

It was decided that they would split up and search, Sylvan had handed each of them a special scroll, if they found the girl, they were to write down their location and throw the scroll, it would then burn up and brand the message onto the other three copies of the scroll, he had explained.

Sylvan and Lisandra had decided to split off and go have a talk with Danuin, to see if he might have an idea as to where the girl was.

Drui had left to meet his contacts in the city guard, hoping that they had record of their arrival, what their business was, and where they were staying.

Asherra meanwhile, went to her friend in the information business, to try and at least get an idea of where to begin their search. A decision she was now questioning with every fiber of her being as she had forgotten how nonstandard and indirect her patron was.

“Etona, I swear to god if this takes much longer…” she muttered in frustration.

“If it takes much longer then you’ll what?” The woman in question asked as she strolled into the room.

“Uhhh” Asherra said in a slightly shaky laugh “ _not_ burn the place down out of frustration and boredom?” She joked nervously.

“Oh good, cause then I’d have to _not_ hunt you down and tear the money for reconstruction out of your ass.” She responded with a wink.

Etona plopped herself down on the couch opposite the chair Asherra had been sitting on for the past hour. The woman yawned and placed her feet up on the table, seeming to relax as she threw her head back and rested leisurely.

“Well, do you have it or not?” Asherra asked impatiently

“Darling, you need to start taking things slow my agent will either get here with the information, or he won’t.” Etona said in a laid-back voice.

“Two of my friends’ lives are at stake right now” Asherra said cooly “Sorry if I’m not feeling super calm”

“It’s okay, I forgive you” Etona said offhandedly. Asherra narrowed her eyes at the girl

“I need the information sooner rather than later lady!” She snapped.

“That’s nice, don’t care” Etona deadpanned “I can’t speed up time, nor can I give you something I don’t possess so calm down and relax, sounds like you’ll be in for an interesting night anyways, so just shut up and take the peace and quiet while you can get it.” With that, Etona closed her eyes.

Asherra wanted to scream against the quiet and inactivity.

But her friend was right, as much as the answer pissed her off.

So, she settled further into the chair _‘I swear to you two, I’m moving as fast as I can, I don’t leave you at the mercy of that psycho by choice. I’ll come for you both soon.’_ She thought as she closed her eyes, and tried to make her body relax.

_‘hopefully the others are having better luck than me.’_

 

* * *

 

“So, uh, how best to explain this… I’m not who you think I am?” Sylvan tried from his bindings. No sooner had he entered the grounds of the estate had he been arrested and dragged in to speak with the man he came for.

He went along with it because he had wanted to speak with this ‘Danuin’ now however, he was beginning to worry whether he would be allowed out without having to expend his energy on a pointless fight. Not that he was uncertain he could handle it, but he was certain he would need every last bit of strength he could get for the fight yet ahead of him.

The guards were completely emotionless as they stood silent vigil over him, chained as he was to the chair, they must have thought it could hold him.

 _‘unfortunately, they’re correct, I left my equipment with Lisandra in case this very thing happened’_ he thought, annoyed. _‘hopefully, that girl comes through if things get dicey.’_

“Don’t mind them, they only respond to me” A voice called out from the stairs above.

A man, Danuin Sylvan guessed, was descending the stairs, moving towards Sylvan at a controlled pace. The first thing Sylvan noted about him was the scar on his left cheek that trailed down to his jaw.

“Hi there, name’s Sylvan, I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure yet.” Sylvan said cheerfully

The man paused his descent and looked at Sylvan curiously, as though unsure of his motives.

“Danuin.” The man said “And yes, we have Sylvan, last time you were here you cut down some of my best troops like they were mere toys.” He snarled.

Sylvan leaned back into the chair, a pained expression on his face “Ah, well see this is going to be hard to explain, but that wasn’t me. The spelling is different and our eyes are not the same” He said in a placating voice.

Danuin moved close to Sylvan and looked him in the eyes. Bright purple met a dull grey, the man gave a sardonic grin as he pulled back.

“I’m afraid we _have_ met before my friend, and my previous statement still stands.” He drawled “We’ve never met personally true, but you’ve met my organization before.” He said cryptically.

“Pardon?” Sylvan asked in confusion, Danuin’s smile grew “Does the name Thaan, mean anything to you?”

 _‘fuck’_ Sylvan thought, the moment he heard that name in relation to this organization, he knew this was a lost cause. However, he needed information.

“Yeah, so sorry about killing your pet demon” Sylvan said, no longer smiling. “but right now, I need information on the whereabouts of a certain child, goes by the name Lisandra.” He finished.

Danuin craned his head at Sylvan, considering him. “I’m sorry.” He said, asking for clarification “Are you suggesting that I join up with someone who is my enemy, to vanquish another?”

“How did that saying go again?” Sylvan responded evenly “The enemy of my enemy is my friend? I hear you’ve pissed the girl off royally, and I’ve fought her and her master before. You tell me where they are, and I can finish the job this time.”

Danuin cocked a smile “The way I hear it, the last time you met them, you ran away barely clinging onto your life, what makes you think this time will be any different?”

Sylvan considered the man momentarily “Simple, this time I am better prepared, know my adversary, and have the advantage of numbers.” He answered carefully, unwilling to admit what he was really thinking, namely _‘I have no earthly clue how I’m going to pull this off without resorting to THAT’_

“I honestly just need an address I can go to” He finished.

“well there’s a hitch, see I _also_ know thy enemy” he said in a dangerous tone. “if you knew what you faced even half as well as you seem to think you do you’d know that no amount of numbers could prepare you for that fight.”

 _‘clearly, he isn’t going to make this easy’_ Sylvan lamented “if you’re sure your numbers won’t save you, then what exactly Is the harm in telling me what I want to know? At worst, I die and they come after you a little winded, maybe gives you a chance.” Sylvan started

He sighed as he continued. “At best, I actually win, and you no longer have to worry about those two.”

Danuin chuckled as he regarded Sylvan’s argument. “And if you do win, that means you are mightier than them, it means there is nothing stopping you from taking the rest of my organization apart piece by piece.” He said “No… No I think It would be better to chance the devil I know, rather than one I know purely by reputation.” He finished.

“Father, there is a message for you” A female voice called from the stairs, she looked at the situation she had just walked into, confused at the scene before her.

“Kainlyn… What could be so important as to interrupt me in the middle of my interrogation?” He chided.

The girl called Kainlyn recoiled a little, “Sorry my lord- your eminence! But uh…” she hesitated

“Speak child.” Danuin said roughly, Kainlyn flinched.

“A woman is here to speak with you, she said: _seha ec dra cuim”_ she started

“ _punh vnus crytufc”_ Danuin finished, he sighed “Mine is the soul born from shadow” he repeated

“I’ll be right there, you two, watch him until I get back, if he moves kill him.” Danuin ordered the two sternly. He turned to Sylvan and spoke

“These two are called ‘Culled Ones’ they are the most elite of my forces, if you move, you will die before you finish rising from that chair.” He warned.

Danuin then left the room. Heading up the stairs and disappearing around the corner.

“Lisandra” Sylvan whispered to himself “I hope you can hear this, a conspicuous entrance would not go amiss”

The girl called Kainlyn walked up to Sylvan curiously, looking him in the eyes. He stared back, confused.

“You look like the one who came here before, but your eyes are different.” She said

“That would be cause’ I’m not that man milady.” He replied respectfully

“No, perhaps not. His eyes were less violent, not as tormented. That’s saying a lot.”

Sylvan’s eyes widened as he considered the emerald eyes of this young woman regarding him with simple curiosity

“How do you know that?”

She shrugged “Just do, mother said it’s a natural talent of mine to see people’s souls, and they say the eyes are the windows to the soul.” She said offhandedly

Sylvan regarded the strange woman for a moment before something in his mind clicked.

“You’ve experienced some of that pain too, haven’t you?”

Kainlyn blinked and backed away from him.

“How did YOU know that?” She asked cheerily, though she now regarded him with a more guarded expression.

He smiled “The eyes are the window to the soul, but be careful, lest you read someone who happens to be staring back.” He countered.

Kainlyn smiled at him _‘this man is interesting’_ she thought. She turned to the guards

“don’t let him out of your sight, father may be finished with him soon, but I am not.” She ordered. She turned to leave the room

“Why are you so fascinated by me ma’am?” He asked kindly

She turned back to him for a moment.

“Because so few men are fascinating to begin with” she said “As such I make it a point to meet the ones that are.”

“What are you hoping to find?” He asked

She walked away from him, once he was out of earshot she whispered to herself “Answers”

 

* * *

 

Danuin entered his private chambers, the room was completely dark. At the edge of his chambers in the darkest corner, shrouded in a black veil, was the woman who had given him everything and asked for nothing in return. He greeted her pleasantly.

“My queen” He bowed, she regarded him vaguely but said nothing.

“I don’t suppose today would be the day you allow me to pay you back for opening my eyes to the world?” He asked.

The woman smiled at that “Your eyes were always open young Danuin, all I did was turn your head in the right direction.” She answered

“Perhaps, but you not only showed me true enemy, you gave me the strength and resources to do something about it, if you’ve come here requiring my aid, you only need ask.”

She stood slowly, striding over to Danuin with a regal grace. She placed her hand atop Danuin’s head and stroked him, as if he were a pet of sorts. Like a pet, he seemed to coo at the attention, closing his eyes and basking in her touch, her warmth.

“As a matter of fact, there is a way you can begin to repay me after all these years.” She said

Danuin opened his eyes, a pleasant gleam in them. Finally, a chance to serve his queen, the woman who saved his soul from utter despair.

“Name it.” He said eagerly.

“Release Sylvan, and give him the information.”

Danuin’s face fell, a quizzical expression formed on his face.

“Why?”

The queen took her hand off her servant’s head and stepped back from him.

“You need not the answer to that question” She said with finality.

“Perhaps, but I would like one regardless.” He pleaded “I am forever grateful to you for your assistance, but that man is an enemy to everything I’ve built, I cannot chance allowing him to be free to destroy more of what I’ve accomplished without a reason.”

The Queen considered his words for a moment before deciding on something, she slowly spoke.

“Your organization will be key to our plan, and one day I will call on you to perform your duty in full, of that you cannot doubt, but even with your vast resources, we lack the means to truly conquer our common enemy.” She explained

“You believe this man can?” He asked skeptically “From what I’ve seen and the reports I’ve read, the man nearly died trying to fight seven or so regular human beings on his own, simply because he was disarmed. What could he possibly give you that I could not?”

The queen took a deep breath

“As he is now, he is utterly insignificant to me.” She spoke with a monotone voice

“Then why-

“However,” She said, cutting him off “Make no mistake Danuin, he is the key to unlocking a far greater power.”

“Greater power?” He said “Him?”

She smiled “Yes… As he is now he is a powerful Wizard, but utterly pathetic compared to the threat we face. But inside his soul, holds the key to our salvation.”

“What is it?”

“An ancient power trapped inside his body, one that surges forward only when he is pushed to his very limit, the two sorcerers who he faces now, may be able to bring about its resurgence but in order to test my theory, he needs to be allowed to fight them.” She finished

“So, you will help him, give him the information he needs, and we will stand back and observe what happens, should he die, he would never have been capable of helping us to begin with. But if he wins, I will make him see our truth, I will show him everything.”

Danuin looked unsure, but was unable to find fault in his queen’s logic, after all, nobody ever rejected the Queen of Shadows for long. “As you will it, so shall it be.” He said.

Danuin turned to leave, but he had one last question.

“Speak freely Danuin, this is your home after all” She said

“My lady, what of his companions?” he asked

She was silent for a moment, she turned her back to Danuin and a portal formed, she answered him before she stepped through it.

“What of them? They lack the power to change things the way he can, as long as he is unharmed you may do as you like with them.”

The portal closed, and light returned to Danuin’s quarters.

He smiled “As you wish my queen.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't actually coming along quite as quickly as I had hoped, I figured I would actually be writing the start of the fight this chapter. But it mostly turned out to be build up when I realized there were more than a few questions that needed answered and I underestimated how long things would take to explain in a way that both made sense, and was hopefully equal parts interesting and entertaining.  
> Anyways, Spoiler Warning for the next chapter (Or teaser, however you wish to see it.)
> 
> I'm warning you straight off that it is probably going to be two more chapters before you actually see the fight, as the intent is for the group to start the battle, rescue their charges. Then flee the town, whereupon Lisandra will use the downtime before they are caught to explain what she was doing all day that led her to meeting Drui. As opposed to the fake Lisandra I had you following during those chapters to confuse you.
> 
> Anyways, started writing this at 4 PM yesterday, stopped at midnight to sleep, woke up at 10 AM this morning, took a break at noon till 2, then worked straight until five to finish this. So I hope you enjoyed.
> 
> Oh yeah, High Talietan is in French which I don't actually speak so if you do speak it please tell me if I make any mistakes so to translate what they actually said  
>  _'Cher dieu dans le ciel' = Dear god in heaven_
> 
>  
> 
> For those who read this before, you are right to notice a sudden change, I originally used Chinese, then I did a little digging and realized 'oh there are apparently like 4 or 5 different variants of the language, I'm not touching that' and changed it to french, which I still don't speak so my above statement still stands. Google translate is a nice thing, there are only two languages other than English I can speak and I am hardly fluent in them, more like 'I know enough to hold a conversation' (German and Spanish, for those wondering.
> 
> I still screw up pronunciation of the words though, so you know...


	10. Days Like This...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The strangers, having finally found the location of the captives, regrouped and prepared to take on the two wizard's longtime nemesis.  
> As prepared as they could have possibly been in that moment, it was a shame that it was not enough to prevent the fight from becoming what it eventually became.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay...  
> Four months ago, that was the last time I updated this story, four long ass months ago. I promise you, it was not for the reasons I THOUGHT it would be.  
> See I figured that I would eventually just get bored and slow the story down to a crawl, despite being determined to finish it, that is not at all what happened.
> 
> First problem. Two days after I got back from my trip, my computer, that had all of the notes for this story on it, broke.  
> See, I went to pull the charger out of the laptop one morning, and the entire charge port got pulled the fuck OUT with it. I do not know how this happened, or why. But that computer is now gone. It had all of my notes, first problem.
> 
> Second 'problem' (I say that but it's only a problem for the people who have been waiting for this story) In January of the new year, A friend of mine hired me to write the story and script for a show that he is in the process of trying to get funded, well that writing job potentially has a paycheck attached to it, so with my computer broken, I had nothing else to do, so it was going to take priority. Unfortunately for this story, it still does.
> 
> Third problem, and at this point in time the largest, I am probably going to be joining the US military here in a few months, I am currently underweight and disqualified from doing it for now, but I am fixing that problem and intend to go through with that. I am sick of hearing about some sick fucks acting in the service of some piss-ant god going around butchering people because their 'religion of peace' (*cough* BULLSHIT *cough* *cough*) keeps commanding them to murder anyone who has the audacity to not think, act, and believe, in the same way as them.
> 
> So yeah, I've been a lot busier than I ever have in my life these past four months, I have not been idle, I legitimately have not had the TIME to work on this story.  
> Despite all of that, I am still committed to finishing this story, it just might take a hell of a lot longer than I originally thought it would.
> 
> The good news, two months ago a friend of mine managed to recover the hard-drive of my bricked computer and put it in a case, so I have my notes back now, that is the whole reason I was able to do this chapter at all. So don't expect me to disappear for four months without any kind of notice again. But depending on how things work out in the next month or two, I may go on hiatus.
> 
> The show I am writing for will also HAVE to take priority because I have to at least have the first season written before I leave for Basic once I finally hit the weight requirement to get in. So these next few months will be pretty trial and error as I figure out how to juggle these new developments in my life. Plus it has to be considered that I also have a day-job before we even deal with ANY of that.
> 
> I beg of the few readers I have to please be patient with me, I never dreamed that half of this shit would happen, let alone pretty much all at once. So now I get to learn the value of time management.
> 
> Wonderful.
> 
> Anyways, without further ado, lets dive right into chapter ten: Days Like This... Where we learn what Lisandra was up to yesterday, and finally get all of the other crap out of the way so the next few chapters can just be an honest-to-god punch up.
> 
> I hope I've gotten good enough at action scenes for this.
> 
> Oh yeah, almost forgot, I also revised the first two chapters to make them flow a little better, mainly because 'they suck and I hate them.' but they suck a little less now hopefully, the broad strokes of the story are still the same and it hasn't changed much in the long run, but if you care to check out the first two chapters, by all means, do so.
> 
> Probably have to get a refresher on the story anyways, given that four months is a long time to ask of anyone to retain all that information.

“Lis, I hope you can hear this, a conspicuous entrance would not go amiss”

The muted voice of her master could be heard through the bracelet resting on the young girl’s arm. Lisandra stopped momentarily and stared at the offending object incredulously as it crumbled into dust on her wrist.

“Seriously… Already?” she huffed in a mixture of amusement and annoyance, she replaced her carving knife back inside of her cloak. Coming to her feet she hung the wooden block she had been whittling for the past ten minutes back around her neck with the others, her newest creation was yet unfinished, but it could wait. She retrieved her stave from its resting position against the wall and stretched, letting out a yawn as she reviewed the events of the day in her head.

_‘So, let’s see, I was out looking for a sword-master that Master seems to think exists, got bored and gave up on that, opting to look for a book on ancient sword legends instead to find a case where the wielder of a runeblade was unable to draw their sword, got sidetracked by those idiots that thought robbing a 12 year old girl was a safe bet, got sidetracked further when that idiot with the scythe showed up to “save” me, I helped him with his problems out of complete and utter boredom, then met Master and the pedlr’_

Lisandra sighed, she really didn’t know why she bothered to leave him alone anymore, he only ever seemed to create more problems when left to his own devices, such as now, when his ‘plan’ was to willingly let himself be captured by people who presumably hate their two look-alikes, and hope they don’t kill him, she could scarcely believe they were really doing this.

She signaled Sindri absent-mindedly, and the fox spirit sprang to life, coiling around her body and lifting her up into the air, she had a good view of the manor from here, she began mentally searching for the locator coin hidden in her master’s sleeve.

_‘After I thoroughly embarrassed the fruna I went back to our room fully intending to just turn in for the night, only to find Drui outside the inn we were staying at waiting for me, he pulled me aside and told me about his contacts in the guard, how he found me using them, and furthermore, found out about the thief that stole my masters belongings, even told me the identity of the kid and where to find him, I came back to our room to find that idiot sleeping without a care in the world, told him about Mardin to get him to resolve this tonight, and off we went’_

                Lisandra finally picked up the location of her master, she paused briefly, sensing the powers of the people around it, they were very strong, their presence seemed to be… Muting the signal of the coin somewhat, the two powers flanking it would have to be dealt with first. She mentally readied herself, and then signaled Sindri to begin his descent towards the main building.

“Sometimes I wonder why we put up with him” Lisandra idly addressed the fox, it merely hummed at her curiously

“You’re right, he is a big dummy”

The fox simply yipped

“Right? Good talk Sindri”

                _‘So then we get there, and I’m feeling a venomous aura about, I don’t know what it is, but I get the nagging sensation that I’ve felt it before, Master yells at me for not caring about the life of some chick who picked a bad fight next to his own, I storm out and begin surveying the perimeter, certain that whatever it was is watching us, I come back in to see the puf cmid back in the land of the living, if only just. She attacks me, and accuses me of attempting to kill her. I sincerely wish that had been the truth, because what she DID tell us, turned out to be a much worse alternative.’_

                Lisandra raised her stave about her head and chanted “ **Shield of Light** ” ordinarily, she would throw some rhyme on top of it because she thought it was cute, but she wasn’t exactly feeling in the right mood for such childish nonsense at present, between reviewing the events of the day, and knowing how much worse her night was liable to get, it just all seemed so pointless to her.

After the pale golden sphere finished encasing her body, she absent-mindedly stroked Sindri’s head as a sign to continue. The fox didn’t hesitate, crashing through the glass roof of the building, and scaring the hell out of the people inside.

No sooner than Lisandra’s feet touched the ground she tapped her stave against the ground, and muttered “ **Detonate** ” the shield immediately exploded outwards, having stored the impact behind slamming through the roof and crashing into the ground. The guards in the room were unable to finish drawing their weapons before they found themselves thrown about by the force of the attack. Several lost consciousness almost instantly.

Lisandra began her walk across the main atrium of the manor, she heard rushed footsteps as someone ran up behind her, but she simply twirled her stave behind her and muttered “ **Force** ” she let a small smile grace her lips as she heard the satisfying * _crack_ of a body that had been right on top of her a second ago get tossed into the wall on the opposite side of the room. The body slumping over in a state of unconsciousness. Sure, she COULD kill them, but considering what they were here for, best not to do that -yet- at least.

                _‘Let’s see, after that Master devised the dumbest plan I’ve ever heard to take this opportunity to fight these two people that have nearly killed us three times now, no scratch that, the definitely would have killed us if Yraul hadn’t been by our side during every single one of those encounters. So, lacking the only person we know of who can actually fight these guys, what does he decide to do? Charge them himself of course! Now Drui and that stupid girl are with us for the fight so we can all die together, it must be my fucking birthday!’_

Lisandra pushed open the door to the hallway seeing a conga line of guards waiting to meet her with swords drawn and crossbows raised. She smirked, none of them were the powerful presences she sensed earlier.

“Don’t bother Sindri” she stated preemptively, for the fox had opened one of its eyes and observed the defenders.

Lisandra took a step forward, extending her stave towards the defenders she aimed towards the backline, the crossbows had to go down first.

“ **Empower: Impact** ” the door they were guarding exploded, knocking the crossbowmen to the ground, they cried out in pain as they hit the ground hard. Lisandra knew her master would probably be annoyed at the waste of power, considering the fight ahead, but she wanted this over with yesterday so he’d just have to deal.

The swordsmen let out a war cry and charged at her then, rushing down the hall attempting to kill the young witch. Lisandra didn’t miss a beat “ **Twin-spelled: Firestream** ”

There was a _*fwoosh_ as two coiling flames flashed into existence from the tip of the girl’s stave, and rushed down the hallway, they split apart as they met the attackers and coiled around them, burning the soldiers badly, they screamed as they fell to the ground in a burning heap

“Well I _tried_ to not kill anyone” she remarked as the twin fires ran along the walls into the adjoining room. She strolled down the hallway and into the room that was her objective, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, steeling herself for the strange powers she felt, before she stepped over the splintered remains of what was once a door.

A few seconds after she entered the room she let out the breath, and opened her eyes.

She froze

.

..

…

Standing at the far end of the room, flanked by the two strange yet powerful presences she felt before, was a middle-aged man, with a strange scar running down the side of his cheek, staring at Lisandra with a look of stunned bewilderment. As well as her master, with his face currently residing in the palm of his hand. The two flanking them didn’t even have their weapons drawn, they stared at Lisandra impassively, their expressions unreadable.

“Lisandra…” Sylvan started with a groan

Lisandra blinked

“What?” she asked in confusion

* * *

**Five Minutes Previous…**

                When Danuin first re-entered the room, the first thing Sylvan noticed about his demeanor was that he seemed far more… Cheerful? No that wasn’t quite right, Sylvan had seen cheerful before, this was more akin to the content mania of a psychopath.

Saying Sylvan was quite shocked when this crimelord that he had previously believed was going to kill him to take vengeance for his organization instead grasped the wizard’s restraints and released them would be a bit of an understatement.

“Have you had a change of heart then?” He asked, perturbed.

“You could say that” Danuin spoke, a hint of mirth from whatever had just happened dripping into his voice. “Do you really believe that you can take those devils down?” he questioned idly, as though his mind was elsewhere.

“I believe I can though obviously, I have yet to test that theory.” Sylvan responded evenly, still trying to work out what could be going through this man’s head.

Though Sylvan was apt at reading people he could look in the eyes, the only-just sane look behind this person’s eyes, coupled with the fact that he had not spared the wizard much more than a cursory glance since he entered the room was making it quite difficult to piece together what could be going on just beneath the surface.

“Oh, I met your daughter she told these two that I wasn’t to be killed, seemed to find me ‘interesting’” Sylvan punctuated his last word with air quotes, Danuin cast a glance back towards the stairwell momentarily before turning to address the wizard.

“Did she huh? Well she’s just a child, I won’t begrudge her for simple curiosity. If she wished to speak with you she can do so when you return with news of your victory.”

Sylvan raised an inquisitive eyebrow at that “What makes you think I’ll be coming back here?”

Danuin smiled at him “You will, my daughter wishes to speak with you, a friend of mine wishes to meet you, and furthermore even if you care not for the first two, eventually you will find your way back here to try and make my organization answer for utilizing demons no?”

“Touché, you’ve got me there” The Wizard replied. “Though the fact that you seem cheerful at the prospect of fighting someone that you’re so sure can take down two people you fear makes me worry for your sanity somewhat.”

“Your concern is noted, appreciated, and ignored.” Danuin replied.

“Great, so about what I came here for?” Sylvan pressed on

Danuin shook his head “Of course, usually they came to me whenever I had a problem that needed dealing with, I only ever saw the other guy twice, but both times ended in the mass slaughter of around a third of my staff, and that was just if he felt even faintly insulted. But I dislike being the one on the backfoot when it comes to information in my town so of course I-

A sudden crash was heard a few rooms down from them, followed by screaming.

“What the hell was that?”

.

..

…

“I don’t… Oh no…” Came Sylvan’s reply, suddenly recalling the request he’d made several moments prior.

“Is it them? Did they follow you here!?” Danuin shouted at him in concern.

“What? No! Calm down you idiot that’s probably my rescuer.” He said as the screams drew closer to their location.

“Rescue!? I’m fucking helping you!” Danuin shouted incredulously, his calm from before almost completely gone.

The door exploded

Sylvan slowly sank his head into the palm of his hand and sighed as two jets of fire burst into the room and snaked along the walls, cutting off the escape to the stairwell.

“Yeah… But she doesn’t know that, the item was only good for a single message and I apologize… I thought you were going to kill me.”

Lisandra stepped into the room then, exhaling a breath slowly and opening her eyes, she seemed to visibly freeze at the embarrassed expression on Sylvan’s face. Her eyes darted to everyone in the room, stave raised and ready for combat, as she sized everyone up.

“Lisandra…” Sylvan groaned

The girl blinked at the annoyed and apologetic tone in her master’s voice.

“What?”

* * *

 

Kainlyn observed the events that transpired from around a corner at the top of the stairs, listening intently. She was curious as to what had brought about the change in her father’s mood, though she found the antics of the girl who had impetuously broken into their household and raised hell among their staff amusing, it was where this interesting stranger was heading off too that she found far more interesting.

So, it was that when she observed the girl from her bedroom window a mere moment before she crashed through the skylight that she had quickly moved the bulk of their guards to another part of the compound, allowing the girl to penetrate their defenses so easily. After observing how effortlessly she had dealt with what remained however, she began to believe it was an ultimately unnecessary effort.

Still, it did save a vast number of their men from taking an unwanted beating, she supposed.

A hand suddenly pulled on her shoulder, causing the woman to jump, to her credit however, she did not make any noise, so focused she was on trying to catch the conversation she had not been paying attention to her immediate surroundings.

She looked to the hand that was on her shoulder, and turned to face the person who had snuck up on her.

She sighed “Kaedeco!” She whispered angrily “What are you trying to do give me a heart attack!?”

The orange eyed woman looked utterly nonplussed “Mistress, what are you doing?” She asked in a deadpan voice.

“That man, he looks to be leaving this place, but I wish to speak with him some more.” She explained, she turned her head back towards the room that was no longer burning, the girl having long since put the flames out.

“So, speak to him, he is still here now is he not?” Kaedeco replied, her voice still betraying no emotion.

“It isn’t that simple Katie!” She whispered back, annoyed. “Do you really think my father would allow me anywhere near those two, especially when he’s talking to them?”

“I see, the lord does have a special resentment towards being interrupted” Kaedeco hummed in agreement “So what, you are waiting for them to finish so you might speak to the Wizard before he departs then?”

Kainlyn huffed “Not exactly.”

Kaedeco took a step closer and leaned her head around the corner, just above her mistress “Then you haven’t answered me properly mistress, if you are not here to try and speak to the man again, what is your purpose in eavesdropping?” She asked, voice still unsettlingly monotone.

“I just- Kainlyns thoughts were interrupted as the conversation below them came to an obvious end, Kainlyn listened intently to try and hear the last bit of it.

Danuin extended his hand towards the wizard and spoke “So, we have an accord then? Take out the bastards who have been causing me so much trouble, and get the ranger who was hunting me to stand down.”

The man considered him briefly for a moment and then shook his hand “If your information proves reliable, I will try, but that one doesn’t seem the type to back down once she’s set her mind to something.”

Danuin chuckled at that “few in her profession ever are, still you’re a resourceful fellow, I have faith that you will think of something. Though if you don’t it is a given that you have an obligation to warn me first.”

“Nothing is a given in this world Mister Danuin, except death besides I can promise that if she does come after you, I’ll be right there with her, I still owe you bastards for the destruction you caused at Arwha.” The man replied evenly.

“Fine, but you owe me at least one month before you come charging back here.” Her father spoke in an amused voice

“That, I can promise.” The wizard replied

“Good, now leave, I have to get the maids to clean this place up after that mess your daughter caused.”

The girl in question huffed angrily in sync with the wizard’s sigh

“He’s (She’s) not my father! (daughter)” They spoke in unison. The girl in a frustrated voice, the man in a resigned one.

As they walked away Kainlyn could faintly hear the girl in a frustrated tone, say: “Seriously, why does everyone always think that!?” To which the man merely shrugged.

Kainlyn let out a frustrated huff and turned towards Kaedeco with an accusing glare “Thanks a lot Katie! I totally missed where they were going!” She jabbed the woman’s armor with an accusatory finger.

“Really? I didn’t.” Kaedeco responded, bored.

Kainlyn stopped and raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her, her obvious question left unspoken.

“Let us return you to your room now, before the lord catches you eavesdropping.” With that, Kaedeco turned and began to walk away. Kainlyn huffed and chased her down

“Wait damn you!” She called after her.

 

Several moments later she was standing in front of the door to her chambers, looked at Kaedeco’s blank expression expectantly.

“Sleep well, mistress” Was all Kaedeco said before she turned and began to walk away.

“Kaedeco!” She called out in exasperation

The ocher-eyed woman looked back at her questioningly

“Well!?” She huffed

Kaedeco didn’t even blink “I’ll tell you their heading when you tell me why it’s important that you know” came the deadpan reply. With that, Kaedeco walked away, bringing the conversation to an end.

“Because I’m your mistress and I command you to tell me!” She shouted back down the hallway.

Kaedeco didn’t slow down “Technically, your father owns me, it is merely my job to guard you. Not answer to you, mistress.”

“Katie please!” Kaedeco pleaded, tears forming in her eyes.

Kaedeco stopped

“I just want to know…” Kainlyn spoke in a despondent voice.

Kaedeco sighed and walked back over to her mistress “And I just want to know why you wish to know so badly, I do not believe it to be an unreasonable request, so I will give you one more chance, tell me why it is so important to you, and I will judge whether your reasons are sound enough to warrant surrendering the information.”

“I just…” Kainlyn began “I just you know… It’s important because he might have… Answers… To my questions, and plus I’m really curious about him as a person, and also…” She was blushing at this point and couldn’t seem to find the right words.

Kaedeco turned and began to walk away again. Causing Kainlyn to panic and blurt out her true intentions.

“I WANT TO LEAVE!” Kainlyn flinched and shut her eyes in a panic, she’d really done it now, Kaedeco was definitely going to deny her request and she’d be stuck here, never attaining the goal she’d sought after for the past five years.

.

..

…

Kainlyn opened her eyes after a full minute had passed and the blow she expected had not come. Kaedeco was staring at her expectantly, her arms crossed, with her right hand resting on her shield, the woman tilted her head at her mistress, silently waiting for her to go on.

Kainlyn took a deep breath, and continued.

“I… I want to leave, and find a cure for whatever ails my father.” She said.

Kaedeco’s face held a confused look to it but she said nothing as she silently motioned for her mistress to continue.

“He’s been getting worse lately… With the beatings, the punishments, to me and the people who work here, for even the slightest offense. After mom died all those years ago, he changed… And these violent and sadistic tendencies are only ever growing worse.”

Kaedeco nodded to herself, realizing what the problem was “Mistress, grief changes people in various ways, it can make even the best men turn co-

“THAT’S NOT IT!” Kainlyn shouted, tears growing in her eyes. “He wouldn’t have changed over that alone… There’s something… Wrong with him now, and I don’t know what.”

Kainlyn took a deep breath and exhaled “You’re the only one in this household that knows I’ve taken up the study of divine magic, right?”

Kaedeco was unsure of where her mistress was going with this but she replied “Yes… You started shortly after the lord of the house became violent, your exact words were that it was: ‘to protect myself from the one person you cannot protect me from’ if I recall correctly.”

“You remembered…” Kainlyn said, a smile on her tear-stained face

If one had been watching closely enough, they might have seen the corner of Kaedeco’s mouth twitch upwards for a second, but it was quickly replaced by a mask of neutrality. She said nothing, opting for her mistress to finish her tale.

“Well… After I successfully learned how to unlock my latent abilities as a priestess, I began seeing things, awful things, there is a bleak darkness surrounding the manor. At first it just kinda came and went, but then a couple years back, it came one day and never left. At the center of this taint, I keep seeing my father, practically oozing the stuff, and it gets worse every time that lady shows up.”

“You are referring to this ‘Queen of Shadows’ correct?” Kaedeco inquired, Kainlyn nodded.

“I began to suspect that his psychotic episodes were somehow connected to the tainted aura that now surrounds us, so I did some research, the temple I had been studying at referred to this as a sickness of the mind that comes from prolonged exposure to ‘demons’ but… Come on demons? That can’t be true, those things are just religious propaganda to scare the masses into carrying around the auspices of the church.”

Kainlyn took a breath, trying to figure out how to get her guardian to understand.

“So, I did research elsewhere, and it is definitely a sickness that is magical in nature. But I’ve never heard of anything like this.”

Kaedeco considered momentarily correcting her mistress, informing her that demons were in fact, real, and that she’d fought and killed her fair share of them, but decided against it, the best way to protect others from the demons was to keep them in the dark, less chance of attracting their attentions that way.

Besides, the lord of the house couldn’t have been possessed by a demon, Kaedeco would definitely have noticed that, she remembered the stench of their aura all too clearly. Even the Queen of Shadows was lacking that unmistakable mark.

Still, her mistress did have a gift that she herself lacked, so it is entirely possible that her eyes picked up on something that nobody else did.

“That still doesn’t explain why you wish to leave with that wizard. We’ve had our fair share of traveling guests, many of whom have been wizards, so why now?” Kaedeco voiced her question.

Kainlyn smiled “Three reasons” She started

“One: back then I could still handle the beatings, and held onto the childish hope that my father would return to his old self of his own accord.” She explained

“Two: I have looked into the souls of every guest we’ve had, and none of them, not even the other wizards we’ve had here before’ were looking back at me. None of them, except him, which means he might be able to tell me what’s wrong with my father, or at least have an idea of what’s wrong, and even if he doesn’t, I think I could convince him to help me look.” Kainlyn was beginning to break down as she explained herself

“Three: That woman… She frightens me, I… I can’t explain what it is about her, even though she’s never spoken to me, that other wizard, the one who looks like that man, even when he had taken me hostage on his first foray into this place, had held a knife to my throat. He didn’t scare me nearly to the extent the mere thought of that woman did.” Kainlyn broke down in earnest now, hiding her face in her hands as she began to weep.

“I just… I just want my father back… Is that so wrong Kaedeco?” She questioned her longtime protector, still not looking at her, tears falling freely as she sobbed into her hands.

“I want him to return to the man who looked at me as a daughter, not just another thing he happens to own, I want him to hold me again and banish my nightmares, not be the cause of them! I do not wish to have to take matters into my own hands and go this far to get rid of them myself but… I… I… I miss my daddy!” Kainlyn was practically blubbering now.

“No, I suppose it’s not wrong” Kaedeco said expressionlessly.

“So yeah…” Kainlyn spoke between sobs “I want to take a chance that this strange man could help me, because I’ve been pushed to this point. My father will never return to me if I don’t do something this drastic… So, I want to leave, I want to save him.” She finished.

Kaedeco said nothing for several moments, just allowing her charge to cry as she weighed her options in her mind. On the one hand, the master would undoubtedly be furious, on the other hand if the mistress was right and there truly was something supernatural at work here…

“Alright” Kaedeco spoke

Kainlyn looked up slowly, not quite willing to believe the answer she had received

“What?” she asked, hopeful.

“I will tell you what you need to know”

Kainlyn was practically glowing with excitement “Ohhhhh Katie thank you!” She practically yelled as she jumped into her longtime protector, hugging her with all of the force she could muster. She began crying again, but this time out of relief.

“Hold it, I will tell you, on one condition” Kaedeco spoke, still deadpan, refusing to allow her tone to betray any thoughts she might have on the matter.

“Name it!” Kainlyn replied immediately.

“I am going with you.”

“Okay!” She said brightly, she was truly happy that she wouldn’t have to undertake this journey alone.

“Hold it, that was not my condition that was a given, I was only making that clear to explain my condition.”

“Oh” she replied, confused. “then what’s your-

“Wait one day”

“Katie!” She shrieked “Do you not understand that this is something that can’t wait!”

Kaedeco’s voice was still emotionless as she replied “I understand that very clearly, but fret not, the one you seek is not going very far, I will give you the information before we leave tomorrow, there are things I must prepare tonight if we are going to do this and you need your rest, so go back to your room, and give me one day to set things in order, then we shall leave.”

Kainlyn looked crestfallen for a moment, but then she smiled “Alright Katie, I trust you.”

“Very good, now go to bed mistress.”

With that, the conversation truly came to an end, Kaedeco turned and left to prepare some supplies for their journey as she replayed the conversation in her head, from the sound of it, this would be a long one. Perhaps much longer than her mistress anticipated.

                Unbeknownst to either of them however, a passing maid had heard the entire conversation, hidden just around the corner, the maid worriedly went to inform Lord

Danuin of his daughter’s plan to leave. As well as the potential treachery of one of the Culled Ones.

* * *

 

 

“All this time… And they were right under our noses, sometimes I can’t tell if we’re the best at this, or the worst” Lisandra remarked from their hiding place.

“We couldn’t have known” Sylvan replied, rising to his feet as he tossed his scroll into the air, it burst into flames and dissipated “Those two are powerful enough that if they don’t want to be found, we’ll never know they’re there until it is far too late.”

Lisandra rolled her eyes at him “Still” she said, gesturing towards the inn they’d been residing in since the previous day “You’d think we’d have noticed that they resided in the exact same building as us. Or that they would have noticed US at least.”

Sylvan smirked “I’m going to simply take the fact that they have not as a sign that we’ve grown much stronger since our last encounter with them, considering they found us instantly last time.”

Lisandra still looked worried, she didn’t even bother to reply to him.

The older wizard patted the girl on the shoulder “Don’t worry Lis, we aren’t alone this time and even if we were I have faith that we could still take them on as we are now. Truth be told, I’ve been waiting to have another swing at them.” He said reassuringly

“That’s false bravado and you know it” was all the girl had to say.

Sylvan gave a nervous chuckle “Heh… Yup” he said, popping the ‘p’

The young girl went into a crouch, locking her arms around her knees and began taking deep breaths

“Days like this…” she mumbled

“Hmm?” The older man hummed curiously.

“It’s days like this where I’d rather be back in Taliet and chance a thousand demons” She tilted her head towards Sylvan “It’s really never easy for us is it?”

Sylvan sat by his closest friend’s side, leaning back on his arms staring at the night sky.

“No, I suppose it isn’t, but after all we’ve been through are you really surprised by it?”

The girl turned her head away quickly, refusing to look at the man “No… But I really wish the world would cut us a break… For once in our lives.”

“It’s the life we chose” Sylvan said tiredly.

“No…. It’s the life I chose” Lisandra corrected in a sad tone, Sylvan turned towards her to find the girl staring at him apologetically “You wanted to stop remember? I dragged you into it… I’m sorry Master.”

Sylvan smiled, he sat up straighter, and pulled off the girl’s hat to allow himself easier access to her head, he patted it softly as he spoke in a delicate tone “Don’t be, despite all the serious ‘shit’ that’s come our way since this all began, there’s no place in the world that I’d rather be than by your side, my very best friend.”

Lisandra leaned into the caress as she rested herself against her master’s shoulder, a content smile on her face “Yeah… Me too…” She closed her eyes, intending to catch a few moments of rest before the rest of their would-be group to show up.

“Master…” she started quietly after a few moments of silence

“Hmm?”

“Do you honestly think we can do this?”

“We’re still here are we not?”

“Hmm”

“What?”

“Are we here because you honestly think we can win? Or because you like that Huntress?”

“Lis” He spoke in a completely serious tone

She turned her head towards Sylvan, he looked her dead in the eye.

“I do not give a damn about anyone other than you.”

She studied his expression curiously for a moment, there was no trace of a lie in his voice, and his expression was both stony and earnest. She smiled, satisfied after a moment.

“Good” she turned away, snuggling closer to the wizard. “For a moment, I thought you were going to let yourself get attached again.”

“In our line of work? Do I look that stupid to you?” he asked incredulously.

“As a matter of fact…” she muttered, bemused.

“That’s funny, coming from the girl who got pretty attached to a guard we knew for a grand total of a single day.” He said, a hint of mirth in his voice

She laughed “You jealous?”

Sylvan snorted in derision “Lisandra, you are twelve, people keep mistaking you for my daughter, gross, not gonna happen.”

“How long are you going to view me as just a frail little girl?” She asked in exasperation.

“Frail? That’s presumptuous of you, I don’t. Little girl? You ‘are’ a child” he emphasized.

“Master” She started, only to be cut off by Sylvan again, who was eager to change the subject.

“Besides, you want to talk to me about not getting attached to people, then what about that guy Drui from earlier, how’d you make friends with him?”

“Master…” She said in a less than patient voice

“And furthermore, is that why you get so mad when I give someone other than you any kind of attention?”

* _Smack_ “Master!” She shouted

Sylvan recoiled from where the smaller girl had sucker-punched him square in the face, he sat there, stunned for a second, when his vision cleared up he found Lisandra staring at him with the most condescending, and puzzled expression he’d ever seen, her gaze seemed to be speaking directly to his mind, and the message was: ‘ _Oh my god, are you for real dumbass?’_

“Okay… First:” She started, trying and failing to keep the grin off her face “I was jokingly making a pass at you, I didn’t actually think you’d take me seriously, you’re gross, and I am having second thoughts about following you” She proceeded to make a big show of scooting further away from him, pulling her hat back onto her head.

“Okay…” Sylvan replied dumbly, rubbing his pained forehead

“Second: I do not get ‘jealous’ of you giving your attentions to other people, I have a very good memory of all the times you’ve done that and it has, sometimes literally, bitten us in the ass because it was either some kind of demon trying to lure you away to eat you, or someone selling you a sob story trying to rob you. We may have inadvertently gotten mixed up in all of this trying to get your money back, but at MY last count, you’ve been robbed for the crime of trusting random strangers thirty-two times in the past five years.” She explained

“Okay…” He replied sheepishly rubbing the back of his head “Uh… thirty-two times in five years can’t be that bad, can it?”

Lisandra let out a hoarse laugh “Not that bad? Master you realize that means on average that you get robbed every fifty-seven days, three hours, twelve minutes, and five seconds after the last time it happened correct?”

“How do you know that?” he asked offhandedly a single confused eyebrow raised in her direction. Lisandra ignored him and pressed on

“So excuse me if I don’t like people who try to get close to you, excuse me for not trusting them, and treating them like the pieces of shit they’re more than likely going to turn out to be until they have proven otherwise, and refusing to trust them enough to let them get close to you before they’ve shown that they aren’t gonna either rob my food money blind, or die and leave him a broken man… again!”

“Excuse me for not trusting people, females in particular!” Lisandra finished her spiel with a huff, she looked away from Sylvan, embarrassed.

Sylvan smiled _‘ah… So, that’s what this is about’_ He thought

The Wizard leaned over and pulled the smaller girl into a hug as he whispered reassurances into her ear

“It’s okay Lis, I’m right here, I’ve learned my lesson since then, I don’t fully trust her either don’t worry, we just need her help until this mess is sorted out, I don’t intend to bring any of them with us when this is done. I just don’t think we can win without them. Nobody else is going to get involved in our fight ever again, so there’s nobody for me to be hurt by the loss of, thank you for worrying about me though.”

“You’re still too close…” she muttered, but the girl made no effort to pull away

He chuckled, so did she, it turned into full blown laughter after a minute.

After the laughter died down, Lisandra spoke.

“Drui is a pretty solid solid guy though, I think his seemingly endless enthusiasm is a little much to deal with at times, but I trust him”

Sylvan hummed “So it’s okay for you to trust people, also why did you not want him along if you trust him?”

She smirked at him “I wasn’t lying before, I honestly don’t think he’d be suited to combatting people like this, also the one constant with all the people who try to take you for a ride is that they all talk down to me like I’m a brainless child, he didn’t, and neither did Raan. Plus, they aren’t females, so I don’t see any problems with potential demon incidents.”

He sighed “Get tricked by a succubus ONE TIME and you just can’t let it go”

“Six, that’s why I said you’re not allowed near brothels anymore” she said humorlessly

Sylvan was now pointedly not looking at her.

“We found them, didn’t we?”

Lisandra did not dignify that with a response.

.

..

…

“So, misadventures aside, how did you meet that guy anyways?” He asked idly

Lisandra looked around for the rest of their group. Seeing none of them around she sighed

“Well, I suppose we have time for my story.” She said

* * *

 

 

**Yesterday**

Lisandra wandered the streets of Varristen, unsure of where to begin, her master had stated that he was going to check out the arena to try and find potential candidates who could wield The Runeblade. She had noncommittally told him something to the effect of doing her own research but she honestly wasn’t certain where to begin. She supposed she could start at the library but she wasn’t certain how helpful that would be, given that she didn’t know what she was looking for in the first place.

Still, her master wasn’t wrong about needing something as powerful as a Runeblade in play for their fight to have any chance of success, with that in mind, she decided that she would instead start by looking in other parts of town for a swordsman.

 _‘I still can’t shake the nagging feeling that we’re going about this the wrong way, Master is able to hold the blade without it trying to kill him so shouldn’t that be proof enough he’s the one meant to wield it?’_ She thought in frustration.

She had tried a few places, various mercenary buildings, a few underground arena’s where unsanctioned fights were rampant, and though she did discover a few people who used swords, she would hardly call them real swordsmen, their technique was all pomp and flash with little to no real skill involved. Frankly, Lisandra wasn’t a swordswoman, but even she felt insulted on their behalf watching them, even her master was better with a blade than them, and he only picked up the skill as a necessity, given their lack of any form of close combat prowess.

After a few hours of this, she began to grow bored, bored and disheartened. Indeed, it was becoming apparent that they were going to be stuck in this town for a while. Though Varristen wasn’t exactly boring, the only three things that brought her any joy anymore was the following:

  * Picking on her master for giggles
  * Furthering her study of magic
  * Taking a demon apart piece by bloody piece and reveling in the sound of its infernal screaming



This place allowed for none of those things. Okay maybe that wasn’t entirely accurate, it allowed for many opportunities for the first thing, but there were so many other places where she could do that and still be allowed to hone her craft in the other two categories.

So, all-in-all, Lisandra was in a word: Bored. Completely, unapologetically, unequivocally bored.

It was perhaps this boredom that led to her reacting the way she did.

She saw them alright, she had just finished purchasing herself something sweet from a nearby vendor, she didn’t have any change so she handed the lady at the stall a gold piece instead of silver

In hindsight, a mistake perhaps. But she saw the way those people eyed her when she pulled the gold piece. Though she held her tongue and pretended not to.

 _‘I suppose I could use the entertainment’_ She thought to herself, deliberately cutting down an alleyway, she had decided to make her way towards the library and focus instead on trying to make the Runeblade work for her Master, instead of wasting time finding some pre-destined prick that probably didn’t even exist.

 _‘Even if he did, I doubt he’d want any part of our way of life’_ she thought glumly, but she could worry about that later, for now, the saps had taken the bait perfectly, stalking down the alleyway after her like moths to a flame.

She had a smile on her face as she walked down the darkened alleyway, waiting for the idiots to walk into range and out of sight of the general populace, not that she particularly cared what they saw but it would be far easier for her to move as she pleased if the guard didn’t have someone tailing her every move as with what happened in every town they returned to a second time. They’d never been here before but if they were going to be here as long as she suspected they were, well… Best not to draw their ire just yet.

She stopped when one of the men whistled at her

“Hey there kiddo, that’s a lot of coin you’re carrying there, mind sharing the wealth with me and my buddies here?” their leader talked down to her, as though she were a complete invalid.

 _‘KIDDO! Ohhh I’m going to enjoy this far more than I should’_ she played along, tilting her head at them as she spoke back “Oh? Mommy told me not to talk to strangers though…

“Hey, don’t be that way.” One of the men said sardonically “We’re all friends here, not strangers, unless you don’t feel like sharing.” One of them brandished a knife at her.

_‘Just my luck, it would be common street rats instead of people who can fight or something, because no, having fun would be a little too much to ask apparently.’_

Lisandra sighed and removed her coin pouch, she extended it out towards the men who grinned and stepped forward. As soon as they were close enough, she dropped the pouch on the ground and took a step back _‘that’s it, just a little closer you bastard.’_

The man kneeled to pick up the pouch, however before he could, something happened that shocked Lisandra, and probably her would-be muggers if she had to guess, completely.

A plated boot came down on the man’s outstretched hand mere inches away from the bag. He screamed as Lisandra heard the distinct crunching of bone beneath it. She looked up.

Standing before her was a man in full-plated armor, the armor was black, as was the cloak he wore, although the cloak itself was torn and tattered, there was a sigil of some kind that appeared to be carved into the armor. It looked like the skull of some monster Lisandra didn’t recognize with a blade shoved through the top of it. Weird. To top it all off, there was a massive Scythe hanging off the armored giant’s back.

All things considered, with his hood drawn, there were two thoughts running through Lisandra’s head at this moment

_‘You son of a bitch, he was mine! Also, did I just get rescued by the personification of death itself, complete with Scythe?’_

The man turned his gaze from the person who’s hand he had just crushed, to the others in the alleyway, he opened and bellowed

“Have you scum no pride! Robbing an innocent child! Be-gone from my sight knaves, lest I get violent” His arm visibly reached behind his back and grabbed hold of the Scythe “And trust me, if you come seeking blood you will find naught but your own by the end.”

With that, the strange man took his foot off of the lead thug’s hand, he recoiled away from the giant and shouted “Kill this asshole!”

The giant man sighed as the first mugger ran at him with a blade, he didn’t even dodge the swipe that came his way. There was a clanging noise as the blade bounced off his armor. The thug was not deterred and kept swinging, the other three were merely watching, nursing their friend’s broken hand, yet still the giant stood.

After a moment of this, the thug ran out of breath, he was panting as he kept looking at the blade, and back at the giant confused. The giant then raised a mailed fist above the thug’s head, and brought it down.

There was an audible _*crunch_ as the would-be mugger took the blow and crumpled onto the ground, grasping his head and screaming in pain. The giant leaned over the man and asked him curiously.

“Is there a reason you just tried to cut through tempered steel plate?”

“Uhhh…” Came the dazed reply.

The man nodded to himself “Perhaps thou needed more educating growing up, a simple iron dagger would not injure me that way, watch.”

Lisandra looked on in disbelief as the Giant picked the dagger off the ground, and promptly slid it between the plates of his armor, she heard the metal pierce skin, and saw the blood flow from out of the wound, and to her utter bewilderment (and her attackers, of this she was now certain) the man laughed as he withdrew the knife, now covered in his own blood, and snapped it in half with his plated glove.

“You see, you thrust it ‘between’ the plates to cause damage to a fully armored opponent, you don’t just randomly slash at them hoping ‘this will be the attack that breaks through’ you understand now?”

“Uh huh…” Came the now dazed and extremely perturbed reply.

For the first time in her life, Lisandra was rendered completely speechless.

 _‘I was not ready for today’_ were her own disturbed thoughts.

“This guy’s a fucking psycho!” the lead yelled “Put him in the ground, all of you!”

There was a moment’s hesitation among their group before they all reacted, still disturbed by this strange new development, but they all drew their weapons and charged.

There was a sudden crash as the man finally grabbed his Scythe, and slammed the blade edge into the ground in front of him

“I suggest that you leave now” The man said

“Don’t try to intimidate us, crazy bastard! In this narrow alleyway, you have no way to swing that useless stick around!” One of the thugs shouted as he charged forward. The man simply smiled

He flipped the scythe so the blade was pointing out to one side and thrust forward, taking a step with it as the back end of the metal slammed into the attacker’s face. Lisandra heard a crunching noise confirming that the man’s nose had just been broken. At least if the resulting scream and blood flowing was anything to go by. Her rescuer moved his face as close as he could to the attacker as he stared him down.

“You know, if any of you had the first clue how to use your weapons properly… You might have had a point there.” He said threateningly.

He followed up his attack by shoving the man with the busted nose to the ground, he pointed the blade of the scythe towards the sky as the next attack came towards him, he twirled the scythe in his hands, catching his next attacker over the head with the back end of the weapon, and then with the back of the blade, the force of which caused this man to topple to the ground. Her rescuer followed this up by standing on the downed man’s back to keep him from rejoining the battle as he pressed the attack.

 _‘If he had flipped the blade the other direction that attack would have killed him, what’s this guy up to I thought he promised to spill their blood if they attacked?’_ Lisanda was still too flat-footed by what she was witnessing to truly react as the battle continued.

The last three men standing rushed at him, however they seemed to be getting in each other’s way as they all tried to strike the armored giant at the same time, the man smirked as he deflected their haphazard attacks with the side of his scythe’s blade.

“Ah yes, I cannot swing my weapon to its fullest potential in this narrow passage, but you also cannot come at me any more than two at a time, so your greatest advantage in this battle, also turns out to be your greatest weakness, one must always be vigilant for such double-edged swords.” He called out to them.

He then rushed forward, upper-cutting one of the thugs with his glove as he shoved the back end of the Scythe into another’s stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He followed this up by raising his scythe above his head, blade turned towards himself as to avoid gutting his attacker, the man grabbed the blade to steady the strike, before bringing it down on the head of the third man, rendering him unconscious instantly.

“You’re crazy… You’re fucking crazy!” The leader shouted as turned to run, he didn’t make it more than two steps before his path was blocked by the scythe, its blade resting on this throat.

“I am only going to say this once, never do something like this again, because I won’t be so nice next time.” He said cheerfully, the cowed man could only nod his head vigorously, to which the giant smiled, though the lead thug couldn’t see it.

“Good, glad we’re clear on that, now get out of here” He said, removing the scythe from the mugger’s neck. As soon as it was gone, the man with the broken hand bolted. His friends were quick to pick themselves and their unconscious cohort up as well, and run as fast and as far as their feet could carry them from the psychopath who had intentionally injured himself with a smile on his face, and still soundly defeated them.

He watched them go, and a moment after he left, her rescuer let out a breath and turned to face Lisandra.

The strange giant leaned down and picked up her coin purse, holding it out to her. Lisandra tentatively took her money back, unsure of what to say.

“I’m sorry about that young miss, I hope I didn’t frighten you” the man spoke with a smile

“Um… Thanks” She said uncertainly

“Don’t mention it, my name is Drui, Drui Sherridan. Pleased to make your aquaintence.”

“Lisandra” the girl replied, still unsure of what to make of the man.

“Well Lady Lisandra, I bid thee farewell, I have an appointment to make at the arena now, but you let me know if you get into any more trouble.” Drui said cheerily.

“How would I even find you?” She asked distractedly, her thoughts still scrambled from the odd man’s demeanor.

“I’ll be hanging around the Drunken Dragon tavern this afternoon, you know of its location?” He asked

“No I don’t I just came into town yesterday.” She said, shaking her head.

“I see! Well then My Lady, allow me to show you around town after this, I can keep men such as that at bay easily enough.” Drui spoke enthusiastically.

“Oh… Alright I guess.” She said

After giving her directions to where he would be, then man turned to leave, a thought crossed Lisandra’s mind before he disappeared.

“What about that wound? Are you going to be alright?” She asked concerned.

“What this?” He asked nonchalantly gesturing to the wound “It’s not that bad, I can mend it afterwards easily enough.”

With that, the man left, Lisandra had briefly considered binding his wound herself, but decided against it, he swore it was nothing and blessed salts were exceedingly difficult to procure, even Arwha was unable to replenish those supplies before they had come out this way. As it stood she only had the two packets left, so she had to conserve what she had until they could properly resupply their magical items.

 _‘Whatever, I have no reason to worry about that guy, he seems more than capable of looking after himself.’_ Lisandra concluded, she briefly followed the man out of the alleyway and watched him disappear around a street-corner.

She wandered around aimlessly for a bit, her mission long since forgotten

 

(“Seriously, you got distracted that easily?” Sylvan interjected)

(“Which one of us got robbed again?” Lisandra asked cheekily)

(“Fair enough” Sylvan quieted back down and motioned for Lisandra to continue her story)

 

Hours later Lisandra found herself at the entrance to the _Drunken Dragon._ The place that Drui had told her to meet him.

Lisandra hadn’t even intended to end up here, she had just kind of been walking listlessly, trying to think of something to do. She was certain she had a mission when she came here, but for the life of her she couldn’t remember what it was.

 _‘Well, that’s not strictly true, but the idea of sitting around reading for hours on end is not my idea of fun.’_ She mentally slapped herself _‘I mean, I did forget for a while with the craziness from earlier but I remember what I was doing now.’_

She stepped inside of the tavern and found a table at the back of the room.

There was no sign of Drui, so to pass the time she pulled an unfinished wooden block off her necklace, she retrieved her knife from her cloak and began whittling it down.

She was unsure of how much time passed there, but eventually the front door of the establishment opened and her quarry walked in.

Lisandra noticed him, but kept on whittling, caught up in her own activity, she decided that she would stop only when he noticed her presence and came up to her. She even became engrossed enough in her work that she started humming a small tune. Though she paid casual attention to the man as she worked out of the corner of her eye.

She didn’t have to wait very long, soon enough the man had finished greeting the various patrons who had walked up to him, and found himself at Lisandra’s table, he took a seat and looked closely at what the young girl was doing, out of respect for her concentration he opted to say nothing and simply watch until she had finished.

After several more moments had passed, she seemed satisfied with her work, she hummed to herself, storing her knife and retrieving her stave, she then placed the figurine she had so meticulously carved on the table in front of her, and tapped it with her stave, concentrating.

The small figurine seemed to glow then, and Drui watched in awe as the wood slowly shifted spun, its color shifting to a light gray.

When the lights faded, she picked up the figure, staring intently at it, humming to herself, she seemed to come to a decision then, because she set it back on the table and looked at it uncertainly.

Then, she raised her stave, and slammed it atop the effigy. There was a _*crack_ as the stave hit solid stone.

Lisandra picked the figure back up and hummed in satisfaction, afterwards she pulled her necklace which contained several more stone effigies, each with a different design, and a couple of wooden blocks that she had yet to work on, she replaced the figure back onto the necklace, and spun the necklace behind her head, concealing the statuettes in her cloak, so her necklace showed only a pale-green gemstone that appeared to be faintly glowing, though one would have to be looking fairly closely to even notice it.

With her work completed, she stared up at the newcomer she had been expecting, and nodded at him.

“My Lady, are you a witch?” Drui asked, amazed.

“No witchcraft, just wizardry” Lisandra answered him in amusement

“Ah, so you are a wizard then!” He said exuberantly.

“Not exactly… I studied under a great wizard but, my talents are more geared towards building things… What would the term be then?” She scratched her chin in confusion as she leaned back in her chair and gazed towards the ceiling. “Maester? Artificer? No, these things don’t quite describe me accurately either, so I guess for now Wizard will have to do.” She finished, she leaned back in towards the table and stared at Drui.

“Well, whatever your talents are, they are most impressive for one so young” Drui said, thoroughly impressed. Lisandra smiled, there was no lie in this ‘Drui’s’ tone of voice, he was earnest, earnest and energetic. Lisandra found that she was enjoying herself.

“So, you said you’d show me around?” Lisandra inquired

“Ah yes I did!” Drui said enthusiastically. “Come young miss, allow me to show you the wonders this town can offer!”

“It doesn’t look like much, but okay!” She smiled finding the man’s enthusiasm rather infectious.

 

Their first stop on this little tour of the city was, funnily enough, the last place Lisandra wanted to be, the town library.

“The tomes kept in this place are second to none, except perhaps the grand library of Vilverinn across the mountains. It is a wonderous place young miss, all the information you could ever need be it on the divine, the arcane, the mundane, to the more martial aspects of war.” Drui explained excitedly.

Lisandra groaned as she stared at the accursed building, wondering if it would be worth it to torch it since she was now here and thus had no excuse not to enter it and search.

“Does it have any information on the Archons?” She asked idly

Drui stopped, he turned a disbelieving eye back towards the girl.

“Why would you desire information on those accursed things?” he asked, perturbed.

“You said it’s information was second to none except the Grand Library, having seen many of these places in my lifetime, I just want to know if it’s true, other than that, no special reason.” She replied

“Ah, I see the young miss is quite the scholar.” Drui nodded understandingly

Lisandra smiled “I’m a wizard, knowledge is power, I’ve done well.”

“Yes, I suppose you have, well certain areas of study are banned from the general populace, the legends of the god-killers in particular” Drui spoke somberly. He turned back towards the building “So to answer your question, probably not, but even if they did you’d need a writ from the mages guild co-signed by the king to even have the authorization to look through them.”

 _‘Oh yeah, the bureaucracy of the guild is still a thing.’_ Lisandra thought disappointedly. Perhaps Yraul would be able to get her that authorization eventually, they hadn’t had that problem when he was still travelling with them, but one thing or another pulled him away from their side a few years ago, and they had not heard from him since.

“Well, as it happens there is information unrelated to that I came here to look through in the first place, I’ll be here for a while so I will not take up any more of your time. I hate to cut this little tour short but I’m not gonna make you wait on me.” Lisandra explained as she began walking what felt like a death-march into the building.

Drui must have picked up on her falling mood however, because he grabbed her shoulder and spoke “Nonsense miss Lisandra the day is still fresh, I will wait with you while you search for whatever it is you require, I have nowhere in particular to be.” He had a large grin on his face.

Lisandra smiled at the thought of having some company for such a boring endeavor but she persisted “Are you certain Drui? You’ll probably find it really boring, I don’t talk very much while reading.”

“I’m positive, let us be off!” He laughed, still full of enthusiasm.

Shortly after they entered the library Lisandra sauntered over to the section on martial lore.

 _‘No… No… Fake… Nope… Not this one either.’_ She thought as she took out several books and read the covers, she had looked through a few, quickly skimming through several pages before she shut the book and tossed it aside, Drui watched her work while reading his own book on Standard Combat Tactics.

“You’re replacing most of these, but why are you throwing some of them aside completely?” He asked, picking up one of the tomes and glancing at the title _‘Disaster at Taliet: Storm of Death’_

“Because those ones are in the wrong section” She replied distractedly, pointing towards a section labelled ‘Fiction’

Drui chortled at that, trying to keep it silent out of respect for the building they were in but he still had to ask “What makes you say they are false?”

Lisandra tossed another book onto the small pile she had created before idly replying “Most of them are books on Taliet, and some of them are just speculation on various events throughout history that have no basis in fact aside from the author’s own opinions. I have no time to waste on their ravings.”

Drui noticed the dirty looks the pile was beginning to attract from the others in the library watching this young girl so callously toss books into a pile, calling most of them outright lies.

Another book hit the pile with a low _*thunk_ Drui picked it up and glanced at the title _‘Demons and Demigods’_ He chuckled, shaking his head “Now there’s one we can both agree on as being false.”

Lisandra turned and looked at the book he had just retrieved “Huh? Oh no, that one goes onto that pile” She said gesturing towards a small stack of three other books stacked neatly next to the haphazard pile

“What’s this one then?” He asked curiously

“Books that might actually be useful, though I have no idea why that one is in the Martial Lore section, does no one put things back where they found them anymore?” She wondered aloud

Drui looked at the girl incredulously for a moment but shrugged “Okay…” He said, replacing the book carefully on the neat stack as Lisandra threw yet another tome on the ‘Useless’ pile.

Eventually, a quite angry librarian came up to them. “Sir, control that child, she is damaging historical texts.”

Lisandra stopped

Drui raised his hands placatingly towards the frustrated Librarian “My apologies madam, my friend here is apparently short on time and quite impatient, we’ll be gone soon enough and I promise I shall replace every last one of these where we found them.”

“No, we won’t” Lisandra called out from her position as she stood up on the tip of her toes to pull down another book.

“Excuse me!?” The librarian said in a growl.

“They aren’t historical texts, they’re bullshit and propaganda.” Lisandra said simply

“Young Lady!” The librarian started aghast “First of all, that language is not appropriate to someone of such a small age, second of all what would you know of history and war?”

Lisandra slammed the latest book she had retrieved closed, and placed it on the ‘helpful’ stack

“Most of these are tales on a town nobody was there to see destroyed. What would ‘you’ know of it?” Lisandra shot back calmly “Also the language I use is none of your business _pedlr_ ” she finished serenely as she seemed to spy something promising.

The Librarian raised an eyebrow at her “My name is Patrice, not Peddler”

Lisandra stopped and turned towards Patrice with a raised eyebrow

She burst out laughing

She composed herself slightly after a moment and replied “You’re right, your name is _‘Cdibet Pedlr’_ ” She put emphasis on the first word.

Before Patrice could speak up, Lisandra continued “And it’s pronounced ‘Pe-ay de-lura just because you peddle false books for a living does not make you a peddler.”

Patrice sighed in frustration and turned towards Drui “Just control your daughter okay?”

Lisandra stopped in the middle of reaching for her book again

“Okay bitch! I can barely deal with people calling me my Master’s daughter I am putting a moratorium on THIS little thing right now!” She shouted angrily, she turned to stare Patrice the Librarian down.

“I had a father! He was eaten protecting me! I had a mother too, she was torn to visceral, bloody pieces trying to do the same thing!” She shouted, white-knuckling the handle of her stave from beneath her cloak.

“I- Patrice started

“NO! I am sick and tired of people continually calling whatever adult I happen to be in the presence of at the time my parent, you dishonor me, and my real parent’s memory by doing so!” She shouted at the poor girl.

“And by the way B-I-T-C-H” she spelled out the word slowly to the girl “That’s not damaging those books” She said, gesturing to the pile, she pulled out her stave, which made the girl reflexively take a step back.

“ **Firestream!** ” She shouted, immediately a jet of fire burst out of the tip of her stave and engulfed the worthless pile, the books instantly ignited, burning to cinders in front of the librarian

“THAT’S damaging them” She finished as she stored her staff and went back to what she was doing.

“Call the mage’s guild, we have a rogue witch on the loose!” The woman shrieked

“Wizard!” She shouted, not looking at the woman.

“No need, we’re already here.” A voice called out

Lisandra sighed in frustration _‘Why did I let that get to me, this was supposed to be a very simple research project’_ She thought regrettably.

Several robed men stood and walked over to the scene, two of them wizards stepped to either side of the burning pile and locked their hands together

“ **Aquos** ” they chanted in unison, water appeared above the flame and came crashing down on the burning books, putting out the flames as the excess water was left to spread across the floor.

The lead wizard observed the frustrated girl before speaking in a calm voice “That was an impressive technique little girl, but we’re taking you in, can’t allow people like you to sully the guild’s good name and your actions reflect badly on all of us.”

Lisandra sighed in irritation, but before she could say anything, Drui stepped in front of her.

“I’m afraid that if you truly think that spell was impressive, you lack the power to control this one” He said solemnly “I would prefer this not end with the deaths of four guild wizards just doing their jobs, so I have to request that you overlook this incident.” He finished

“You’re Drui right? Our guild has contracted your services before, either stay out of this or assist us in her capture, but this incident needs to be dealt with posthumously.” The man spoke

Drui sighed and unclipped his scythe from his back. Bringing it to bear on the four guild wizards in front of him.

Lisandra had just begun levelling her stave when Drui spoke “Stay out of this Lady Lisandra, I know you’d win.”

Lisandra hummed in assent, she returned her stave to her cloak, and leaned against the wall, she crossed her arms and decided to watch how this played out instead.

Drui waited for his opponents to make the first move

 _‘First mistake’_ Lisandra thought _‘Never let the wizard take the initiative’_

The four wizards raised their arms in unison “ **Acid Bolt!** ” they shouted. In response, a glyph formed in front of them as what appeared to be four green glowing crossbow bolts sprang out of the glyph, striking Drui in the chest.

Drui pushed forward, striking the first wizard with the backside of his scythe’s blade, the man stumbled backwards but otherwise didn’t even flinch. Drui pressed the attack, kicking another one of the Wizards in the chest, he fell backwards, crashing into one of the bookshelves, the contents of which clattered along the floor, several books smashing into the Guild Wizard’s head.

Drui then stuck the back end of his scythe into the ribcage of a third wizard, the fourth however, was able to retaliate before the giant man could move any further. “ **Light Binding!** ” He shouted, Drui was suddenly ensorcelled in a barrier of light, he found that his muscles would not respond, furthermore, the acid bolts that had struck him earlier stuck to his person, and were now eating through his armor. Soon enough, the giant would be vulnerable to their attacks.

The four Wizards stood and regrouped, they locked their arms together and shouted “ **Shield of Light!** ” A pale-golden sphere enveloped their bodies, shielding them from physical harm.

 _‘And there’s why, this battle is over’_ Lisandra thought, closing her eyes. She sighed, the man could take a hit alright, but his sense of strategy was clearly, sorely lacking. She noticed movement beneath her feet as she re-opened her eyes and cast her gaze downwards.

 _‘That’ll work’_ She thought, she retrieved her stave from beneath her cloak and pressed a switch on it, an inch of metal poked itself out of the bottom of it, she began scrawling into the wooden floor, bored as she returned her attention to the fight.

“Do you see now Drui, it is folly to oppose the guild, surrender the girl and we will forget this happened” One of the Wizards mockingly shouted.

“I’m afraid I cannot do that” Drui said simply, as he began struggling against the barrier once more

“Have it your way then, **Force!** ” The four wizards shouted, the cones of pure wind exploded forth from their extended wands, smashing into Drui as he struggled against the barrier placed upon him.

The wind was knocked out of Drui as he took the brunt of the attack, and he could feel his consciousness starting to slip away, just for a moment, the acid had finished burning through his armor and was now attacking his body directly.

Drui let out a yell of extreme effort, the light barrier around him began to crackle. The wizards looked at him in disbelief.

“Is he actually about to break a magical barrier through sheer force of will?” One of them asked his cohorts.

“Not if we don’t let him, again!” The lead wizard shouted. The four raised their wands once more and repeated the attack.

The barrier crackled and dispersed as Drui went flying into the nearest bookshelf, the wooden shelf groaned and gave way, breaking apart under the weight of the giant that had been tossed into it.

Drui stood nonchalantly cracking his neck as he came to his feet. “Thank you, I couldn’t have broken free of that without your assistance” he said gratefully to the four flabbergasted wizards.

“What are you talking about?” The lead wizard asked

“If you hadn’t thrown those cones of force attempting to push me backwards, I never would have been able to break the barrier, see impressive though my strength may be, it alone would never have been enough to escape the binding without your outside forces also attacking it, and they were all pushing me in the same direction, so all I had to do was try and force myself to move ‘with’ the force of your attack instead of against it, to make the binding spell crumble.” Drui explained cheerily

“In the future, if you wish for a binding spell to remain effective, attack from all directions so as not to upset the balance of the barrier.” He advised enthusiastically “Other than that it was a good attack, and I commend you.”

“Why are you advising us on how to beat you!?” One of the Wizards cried out.

“I’m not, you aren’t going to get a second chance to try that on me” Drui stated.

He lunged forward

His scythe met the sphere of light, which made a resounding _*clang_ as the shield deflected the attack. Drui was thrown backwards by the shield, but he recovered instantly and charged again. The sound of metal resounding throughout the library as blow after blow hit the shield of light.

“ **Blaze!** ” One of the wizards shouted, as a small jet of fire was expunged from his wand, burning Drui’s body. The giant man didn’t even flinch, he just kept pounding away at the barriers, cracks were beginning to visibly form around the outer edges of the spheres as he hit them each in turn.

The lead wizard stuck his wand into Drui’s ribcage “ **Shock Shiv!** ” he shouted, a familiar _*Crack ~zzzt_ was heard as the electricity coursed through Drui’s system, but again, he shrugged it off. Though his breaths were starting to become labored, between the acid eating away at his body, the fire, and now the lightning coursing through him.

Lisandra watched in interest as Drui suddenly halted, his body began to twitch unnaturally, but she chalked it up to the amount of pain he must be in right now.

 _‘Okay so in the interest of making this not take all day’_ Lisandra thought to herself, she tapped her stave against the ground “ **Shock Rune** ” She stated in a bored voice.

The Wizards turned to look at the girl as they heard he casting, confused. Why would she use a stationary trap spell?

Their answer was given when electricity snaked its way along the puddle of water from the wizard’s very first spell that put out the blaze, the water had run along the ground and a small amount of it stopped at the girl’s feet.

It ran along the puddle until it reached the four wizards standing in it, Shield of Light may be an extremely effective tool against physical attacks. But that was all it was designed to protect against. Magical defense was a different spell altogether.

They cried out in pain as the electricity, much more potent than their own, coursed through their bodies, the spell ran throughout their body for five seconds, and when it ended they hit the ground, unconscious.

 

“Well that was fun” Lisandra said, quite calm now that the irritation had been dealt with. She walked over to Drui, who was still shaking a little from the battle.

“Are you alright?” She asked, Drui seemed to snap himself out of his stupor, he looked around confused for a minute.

“What happened? Where are the wizards?” He asked in a panic.

Lisandra gestured to their motionless bodies.

“Oh no, don’t tell me I went and killed them!” He asked, his composure breaking down.

Lisandra raised an eyebrow at them “Woah, slow down big guy, I dealt with them, you just kind of stood there and lost consciousness or something.”

He looked at her in disbelief “Really?” Lisandra nodded at him “They’re just knocked out.” She said “Why would you think you’d killed them?”

“No reason.” Drui said in an uncharacteristically low voice, Lisandra was curious but decided to let the man keep his secret to himself. It wasn’t her place to inquire and based on his tone she doubted he would have answered her.

“Well regardless, I think I’ve got what I came here for, now I just need to- Oh god damn it!” She shouted suddenly, looking at the small stack of useful books, now destroyed by the water and her own attack.

She turned back towards the few rows of destroyed bookshelves, probably very little she’d find of use here now, but knowing this place…

Drui watched Lisandra suddenly stomp over to the section labelled ‘Fiction’

“What are you hoping to find there?” He asked

“These morons classified so much bullshit as non-fiction, so it stands to reason the truth would be labelled as mere legend and fairy tales.” She answered. Looking over a row of books, she spotted it on the top shelf.

“Come help me with this!” She pleaded, and Drui certainly wasn’t going to deny her. He walked over to the shelf, and lifted her onto his shoulders so she could better fetch the book she had eyed.

 _‘Mythos of the Blade’ this might just be it’_ She thought to herself. She turned towards Patrice who had been frightened into a paralyzed silence by the entire ordeal.

“You.” She said threateningly Patrice blubbered a little and pointed at herself “M-me?”

“Yeah” She narrowed her eyes at the terrified woman, and then broke into a big smile “I’m keeping this for all the trouble you people caused ‘kay?” She said cheerily

Patrice fainted.

“I’ll take that as a yes, let’s go.” She said.

“You go on ahead, I’ll help fix this place up and deal with the fallout” Drui said, putting the young girl back down.

“Okay, but only if you agree to go get those wounds treated” She said

Drui laughed “Worry not, they’re mostly superficial.”

Lisandra shrugged “If you say so, the tour will have to be concluded some other time then.”

“Yes…” Drui replied, groaning from the pain caused by his laughter “Some other time then.”

“Oh, before I forget, when the wizards wake up, give them this” She fished a badge out of her breast pocket and handed it to Drui, who took it, confused.

“What is this young miss?” He asked

“That is my ‘I’m-friends-with-the-grandmaster-of-the-wizard’s-guild-and-can-do-whatever-I-want-so-don’t-you-dare-come-after-me’, badge.” She explained

“Is it now? Why didn’t you pull this out earlier?” He asked

“Because you didn’t give me a chance to do so before you pressed on with the fight, anyways this will keep you and me both out of trouble, and I expect it back later.” She said

“Of course, I will deliver it to you as soon as I am finished here.” He said

“Very good then.” She said

As Lisandra left the Library, she got a total of three blocks away from it when she came to a realization

_‘I forgot to tell him where I was staying…. Shit!’_

 

Sometime later, Lisandra found herself outside of the restaurant she was meant to meet her master at. She walked in and saw him speaking with some woman that was sitting at their table.

Her mind immediately gave her flashbacks to all the times her master had brought back people she had never met, all the times he had been tricked by these people, and the heavy annoyance that was normally caused by them.

This was probably not going to be fun, was what was going through her head as she walked up to the table

"Uh Master... Who is this?" Lisandra asked as she took her seat at the table next to Sylvan, across from them was a strange woman in green armor, a bow slung across her back and a drink in her hand. Her feet lazily propped up on the table as she leaned back in her seat taking in the sight of the duo.

"This is Asherra, and she is going to help me with a minor annoyance" Sylvan said to her. He gestured to the woman across the table, and then back to Lisandra "Asherra, Lisandra, Lis, Asherra."

"Ah so the Wizard's apprentice shows herself" Asherra drawled taking another drink "And a child no less, you've some interesting friends Silver"

Yeah no, this was ‘definitely’ not going to be fun.

 

She was returning from her victory over the irritating Huntress that had insulted her so thoroughly with a smug smile on her face, she had fully intended to just return to her room and faceplant. But fate, it appeared, had other plans for her, as she was greeted outside of the inn she and her master were staying at by none other than Drui.

The man walked up to her and returned the sigil she had given her, Lisandra raised a wary eyebrow at the man.

“What is the matter young miss?” He asked pleasantly

“How’d you find me, I don’t recall telling you about this place.” She said

Drui rubbed the back of his head “Yes, I noticed that a few moments after you had left as well.” He said sheepishly “Luckily I have friends in the city watch who had record of your arrival, might have been an error of some kind however because it shows you having checked into this building twice.”

“I see, yeah that level of incompetency sounds about right coming from these people.” She replied, she was about to go up to her room, their business concluded, when the man suddenly stopped her again.

She turned curiously to her rather large friend “Was there something else?” She asked

“I also heard report from one of my friends that you have a travelling companion that was pick-pocketed recently” He said

Lisandra turned to face Drui her attention now occupied “Yeah? And what of it?”

Drui motioned down the street “Come my lady, walk with me, I think I might have an idea of who the culprit is.”

“Okay…” Lisandra said, her interest now thoroughly piqued.

 

“Do you know of a boy named Mardin?”

 

* * *

 

 

“And that’s pretty much it, that was my whole day yesterday, he keeps saying that I helped him out of a bind, but in all honesty, there would have been no bind to begin with if he hadn’t offered to come with me.” Lisandra finished

Sylvan Listened to Lisandra as she finished her tale, he found it oddly amusing in its own right. As she finished, he finally spoke

“So, sounds like we both had rather interesting day, and yet, you wish to make me feel like an idiot?” He asked in amusement

“The difference there is that your misadventure happened through negligence, hers happened because she chose to do nothing to prevent it. That about right?” Asherra asked, stepping around the corner

“Holy shit lady how long have you been there!?” Lisandra shouted, jumping to her feet in alarm

“Since about the time you started your story. I was curious as to what you were up to during all of this and I don’t see your giant friend here yet so I figured I’d listen in to pass the time.” She replied, now fully armored and ready for combat.

As if on cue, Drui walked into the alleyway “Worry not friends, I am here.”

Sylvan rose to his feet “Alrighty then, if we’re all present and accounted for, I believe we are ready to get this started.”

Lisandra gave a pained smile “Yeah! So, who’s ready to die!” She said in faux excitement.

Asherra chuckled “Who wants to live forever anyways. Besides, nights like this are what makes life fun.” She said, pulling her bow and knocking an arrow.

Lisandra smiled at Asherra “I really hate you, you know that right?”

Asherra gave an understanding smile “Given the tale I just heard, I understand and can actually live with that you little brat” She said cheerfully.

Drui looked between the two “I’m missing something?”

Lisandra stared at him “Nothing at all”

Sylvan chuckled “Alright, let’s move. We need to make a grand entrance, Drui if you would.” He gestured to the front door.

Drui smiled “Of course master wizard.” He marched to the front of the door.

He stopped three paces from it and took a deep breath, everyone else followed suit, steeling themselves for what would likely be the longest night, and hardest fight, of their lives to date.

Drui slowly exhaled his breath, and took three steps forward.

On the third step, his other foot came up and connected with the door.

 

The wood exploded into splinters as the four rescuers swarmed into the building.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now everything is out of the way, and I can just focus on making a super-creative magical duel.  
> I hope it doesn't disappoint.
> 
> But yeah, way longer chapter than normal as a way of apology

**Author's Note:**

> Also pronunciations (Some obvious, some not, some addressed in the chapter itself.)  
> Thaan (Thaw-N)  
> Sylvan Ultdsworn Amari (Sil-Ven, Uld-Sworn, Uh-Mar-Ree)  
> Lisandra (Liss- Aun- Druh)  
> Taliet (Taw-Lee-Et)  
> Arwha (Are-Wa)  
> Dagus (Day-Gus)  
> Zahncrest (Za-N-Crest)  
> Save Anatorus (Saw-Vey, On-A-Tour-Us)  
> U'ngol (Oon-Goal)  
> Raan Therak (Ron, There-rock)  
> ArChaos (Are-Chaos)  
> Rograk (Rogue-Rock)  
> Yraul (E-Rawl)  
> Sindri (Sin-Dree)  
> Lyra (Lie-Ruh)  
> Drui Sherridan (Droy, Shear-i-dan)  
> Asherra Fensdottr (Uh-shear-uh, Fens-daughter)  
> Mardin (Mar-din)  
> Sai (Sigh)  
> Danuin (Dan-oo-in)  
> Agnus Immolatus (Ag-nus, Emo-lot-tus)  
> Kainlyn (Cane-Lin)  
> Kaedeco (Kay-De-Co)  
> Etona (E-Tone-Ah)  
> Guerra (Gi-air-uh)  
> By the way the underlined parts are excerpts from Save's notes directly, in case that was not clear.
> 
> Another editing note, I decided to change the category tags to just general until they become relevant, as to not give people the wrong idea. They will be edited as we reach points in the story where they become important.
> 
> Now that the concept of other languages has been introduced I will keep a running track of languages used, and what they are based on just so you can translate them yourself should you be curious to their meaning
> 
> Elvish = Al Bhed (Final fantasy X if you're curious as to where that is from, also a placeholder language until I get around to making a language for it. Read: If and until I can get this published)  
> High Talietan = French (Used to be Chinese and then I discovered 'that language is too fucking complicated, french it is' still sounds fancy enough to be passable for its purposes, don't speak a lick of it though, google translate is nice)


End file.
